Prysmian : continues to sustain the development of broadband networks

Prysmian Group continues to sustain the increasing development of broadband networks

Over € 100M investment in optical fibre to improve efficiency and provide better value for customers

New expanded optical fibre production facility in Sorocaba (Brazil), one of the five worldwide excellence centres

Milan, July 22, 2015 - Prysmian Group, world leader in the energy and telecoms cable industry, continues to sustain develpoment of broadband networks, and maintains its commitment to innovation and competing in the optical fibre sector worldwide with the inauguration of a newly expanded optical fibre production facility in Sorocaba, São Paulo.

As part of a five year plan which ends in 2016, Prysmian is investing more than €100m in its telecom R&D activities and optical fibre plants worldwide, with the aim of increasing competitiveness of fibre products and enhancing production capacity in order to match demand from the market.

The Brazilian project is part of this ongoing global scheme which will improve the performance of the Group's optical products and manufacturing processes, along with other excellence centres in the USA, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

The first phase of the investment plan for the Soracaba plant - now completed - increased the local production capacity to meet local market needs of 4.5m km of fibre preforms per year.

The ongoing second phase of the plan aims to upgrade manufacturing processes in order to provide the South American market with the most advanced fibre solutions and also further increase capacity if market demand requires it.

"The quality of the passive elements of an optical infrastructure is absolutely key to guarantee the sustainability of the telecom service and also to optimize the total cost of ownership of the network," said Philippe Vanhille, Executive Vice President, Telecom at Prysmian Group. "The closer the fibre gets to the premises, the more passive components quality becomes critical to avoid service disruptions and high cost of ownership. We consistently keep on investing in optical innovation, in order to permanently improve the performance of our products and processes. Our mission is to provide the market with the best solutions, creating concrete value for our customers, both in Brazil and globally."

Prysmian provides the market with the benefit of 40 years of optical fibre R&D, fully owned optical technology and ever-growing experience across six continents. The Group is constantly working to develop new technologies in wiring and connectivity to provide the best, most up-to-date customer experience. Recent developments have included the Retractanet and VertiCasa retractable solutions for indoor and outdoor installation, and Flextube™ 1728fo cable, the largest Flextube™ cable available with the highest fibre density of any high fibre count cable deployed in the world, (4.16f/mm2), recently installed in Australia.

Prysmian Group
Prysmian Group is world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry. With more than 130 years of experience, sales of nearly €7 billion in 2014, some 19,000 employees across 50 countries and 89 plants, the Group is strongly positioned in high-tech markets and offers the widest possible range of products, services, technologies and know-how. It operates in the businesses of underground and submarine cables and systems for power transmission and distribution, of special cables for applications in many different industries and of medium and low voltage cables for the construction and infrastructure sectors. For the telecommunications industry, the Group manufactures cables and accessories for voice, video and data transmission, offering a comprehensive range of optical fibres, optical and copper cables and connectivity systems. Prysmian is a public company, listed on the Italian Stock Exchange in the FTSE MIB index.

Media Relations Lorenzo Caruso
Corporate and Business Communications Director
Ph. 0039 02 6449.1
lorenzo.caruso@prysmiangroup.com

Investor Relations Cristina Bifulco
Investor Relations Director
Ph. 0039 02 6449.1
mariacristina.bifulco@prysmiangroup.com