“Currently, we are overseeing more than 1 lakh telecom cell sites and 1.53 lakh km of optical fibre cable for different telecom operators and telecom infrastructure providers along with successful execution of approximately 50,000 km of underground OFC lay.”
Pratap Digital Communications Pvt. Ltd., with the brand name Corsis Technologies, is one of India’s largest & fastest growing optical fibre cable (OFC) manufacturing companies. Equipped with more than twenty fully automatic lines, the company manufactures and supplies cables ranging from 1F-576F. In an interview with WCI, Mr. Shakti Singh Shekhawat, Managing Director, Corsis Technologies, talks about the business journey of the company along with its production capabilities, infrastructure setup, and new developments.
Wire & Cable India: Kindly give us a glimpse into the business journey of the company. How do you plan to solidify your standing in the telecom and optical fibre cable segment?
Shakti Singh Shekhawat: We started down the road of diversifying our company close to 24 years ago, in an attempt to find new markets and additional avenues to grow. Pratap Group of Companies is a conglomerate having diversified in different verticals including telecom, manufacturing, power, infrastructure, education, automobile, GIS, mining, and agriculture. Established in 1987, by Shri Pratap Singh Shekhawat, a marine engineer by profession (Ex-Indian Navy), Pratap Group of Companies has garnered a stronghold in multiple business sectors across the nation. We are a strong team of more than 17,000 employees catering to the client base of more than 100 renowned companies in India. Pratap Group of Companies has a reach in 28 states and 8 UTs across the nation.
Our flagship company in the telecom sector, Pratap Technocrats Pvt. Ltd., has reached new heights by becoming one of India’s largest Telecom, IT Infra services delivery providers. We have around 24 years of rich experience in the tower sector including OME/ IME/ E2E, Fibre Managed Services-O&M, and set up of network operation centers. Our expertise enables us to manage the bigger portfolio of towers and fibre in both urban and rural areas. Currently, we are overseeing more than 1 lakh telecom cell sites and 1.53 lakh km of optical fibre cable for different telecom operators and telecom infrastructure providers along with the successful execution of approximately 50,000 km of underground OFC lay. The company currently has a strong foothold in various geographies, successfully serving multiple operators and telecom infrastructure providers. Pratap Group of Companies has earned several prestigious awards from telecom operators and infra providers for their outstanding performance.
As India is the world’s second-largest telecommunications market with a subscriber base of 1.16 billion and has registered strong growth in the last decade, Corsis Technologies is our forward integration. It is the fastest-growing organisation, specialised in the manufacturing of optical fibre cable from 1F to 576F, which is the backbone of any network employing communication. Our company is well-equipped with fully automatic machines for manufacturing a wide range of optical fibre cables including aerial cable, underground cable, FTTX cable, indoor cable, CATV, special cables, and undersea cables. It follows a stringent quality control system with advanced testing facilities to meet national and international standards.
Our state-of-the-art manufacturing plant consists of the latest, and ultra-modern machinery for manufacturing optical fibre cable (OFC) ranging from 1F to 576F and other special cables. We have a capacity to manufacture more than 4.5 million fibre cables (FKMs) per annum.
WCI: Take us through the production capabilities, infrastructure setup, technology, etc. of the manufacturing plant of the company.
SSS: Corsis Technologies, being a brand of Pratap Digital Communications Pvt. Ltd. (A unit of Pratap Group), is an ISO 9001:2015 & TL 9000:2016 certified company. Our manufacturing facility is situated at Pithampur near Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Our state-of-the-art manufacturing plant consists of the latest, and ultra-modern machinery for manufacturing optical fibre cable (OFC) ranging from 1F to 576F and other special cables. We have a capacity to manufacture more than 4.5 million fibre cables (FKMs) per annum.
WCI: What kind of investments do you put forth to ensure your leading position in the telecommunications and optical fibre cable (OFC) market?
SSS: We are continuously investing and doing capacity expansion, seeing the strong demand, the company will invest approximately INR 150-200 crores in near future to secure our position in the telecommunication and optical fibre cable (OFC) market.
WCI: Kindly touch upon the different markets you serve with your product range. What are your plans for furthering your market reach?
SSS: Our high-quality products have garnered us sturdy business relationships in the industry. Corsis Technologies has strong associations and is closely working with large enterprises and data centres, oil & gas pipelines, broadcast, CATV, smart cities, internet service providers, and government sectors such as defence, telecommunication, and railways.
WCI: Due to large-scale national-level projects, there’s been a surge in the demand for optical fibre cables – how do you relate this to the growth prospects of Corsis Technologies? Also, share your outlook on the potential of the OFC segment in the country.
SSS: Corsis Technologies is a future-ready organisation and has a high growth prospect. The growing need for reliable, high-speed, and scalable communication infrastructure networks and the surging adoption of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connectivity have led to the high adoption of optical fibre. It is ten times faster than standard cables. The companies are continuously making efforts to make innovations in fibre networks to decrease the operations and maintenance costs.
The global fibre optics market size is predicted to reach USD 9.73 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 10.3 percent during the forecast period (2020-2027). India’s optical fibre cables (OFC) market stood at USD 881.5 million in 2019 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 19.7 percent to reach USD 2.1 billion by 2024. The total wireless data usage in India grew 16.54 percent quarterly to reach 32,397 PB in the first quarter of FY22. By 2025, India will need ~22 million skilled workers in 5G-centric technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, and cloud computing. India is one of the biggest consumers of data worldwide. Over the next five years, a rise in mobile-phone penetration and a decline in data costs will add 400-500 million new internet users in India, creating opportunities for new businesses and usage of data will be increased thereby increasing demand for optical fibre cable.
The increasing demand for OFC from the IT & telecom sector, rising number of mobile devices, increasing adoption of Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) connectivity, and surging number of data centers are further anticipated to fuel fibre optic cable market
WCI: What measures do you undertake to ensure a consistent supply of optical fibre cables to meet the rising demand for high bandwidth communications?
SSS: To achieve a reasonable balance between supply and demand, a lot of market research and forecasting is done. The demand is predicted and accordingly, our strategies of product portfolio expansion, capacity expansions, and geographical expansions are in place in order to increase the production at the present rate to meet the high demand.
As 2022 progresses, there will be more information about the optical fibre cables that will be installed to support 5G infrastructure and other new local applications, especially as China ramps up 5G network constructions in wide-scale rollouts. This should provide greater insight into the strength of the next generation of fibre deployment, ‘beyond FTTx’. Moreover, the increasing demand for OFC from the IT & telecom sector, rising number of mobile devices, increasing adoption of Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) connectivity, and surging number of data centers are further anticipated to fuel fibre optic cable market in India over the coming years. For instance, cloud companies are partnering with telecom operators to create edge data centers.
We continuously work on product development… We offer customised solutions of cable designs to deliver the most economical and reliable products to our customers based on their application.
WCI: Could you please chart out the latest developments at the company – any product-related development, technological innovations, and so forth?
SSS: We continuously work on product development. To improve the testing workflow, we use automation and advanced sensing technology for equipment inspection. Our advanced research and development centre constantly works on innovation to create value for our customers. We offer customised solutions of cable designs to deliver the most economical and reliable products to our customers based on their application. We work closely with our customers to understand their requirements and explore the best possible solution to deliver exceptional quality products.
WCI: What will be your key expectations regarding your participation at the 4th international exhibition and conference – Cable & Wire Fair 2022?
SSS: Cable & Wire Fair is a revolutionary platform for the wire and cable industry. Bringing various industry verticals to communicate their ideas and network will accelerate technological innovation.
WCI: Going forward, how do you envision the future years for the company’s growth? What are the company’s plans?
SSS: Our goal is to build a company with a strong foundation that will continue to grow and be successful over many, many years. This was one area where we believe there will be a lot of change, and therefore, opportunity—and it happens to be an area that we already have expertise in.
