Morocco: Japanese Furukawa Electric to open fiber optic plant for African markets

(Agence Ecofin) - The Japanese group Furukawa Electric has decided to open in the near future a fiber optic assembly line for telecoms in Tangiers, reports the business magazine Nikkei Asian Review.

The goal for Furukawa will be to “offer cable assemblies to telecommunications companies in Africa and in Europe while getting ready to produce connectors in the future”, the same source added. The company, based in Tokyo wants to export fiber optic from its Japanese and American plants to assemble them in the future Moroccan plant, a first on the African continent.

The demand for fibre optic cables in Africa and the Middle-East will reach 32 million kilometres in 2018, a 80% increase from the 18 million kilometres in 2014.

Nikkei Asian Review clarified that Furukawa chose Morocco due to its free trade agreements with several countries, its easy access to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, as well as the country’s political stability.

Furukawa Electric has a turnover of €7.2 billion with a gross margin of €1.15 billion. The group had about 46,000 employees in June 2015.

Many Japanese companies are already established in Morocco, mainly in the automotive equipment sector such as Denso, Fujikura, Yazaki or Sumitomo.