Demand for optical fibre is creating a worldwide shortage with manufacturers scrambling to bring more production capacity on line.

The latest announcement comes from Japanese electronics giant Furukawa Electric, which plans to nearly double its 2016 optical fibre manufacturing capacity by 2019 and to increase its optical cable manufacturing capacity through the operations of OFS, its wholly owned subsidiary.

Vodafone plans to invest about €2 billion over the next four years to provide around 13.7 million new gigabit broadband connections to homes and businesses in Germany, its biggest European market.

Under the Gigabit Investment Plan, Vodafone Germany will target 100,000 companies in around 2,000 business parks, one million homes in rural areas, and 12.6 million cable customers.

Network test specialist EXFO has signed an agreement to acquire Yenista Optics for an undisclosed sum. The deal is subject to a number of conditions to be completed before closing.

Yenista Optics, a privately held company based in Lannion, France, supplies advanced optical test equipment for the R&D and manufacturing markets. Its product portfolio includes benchtop optical spectrum analysers, tunable lasers, tunable filters and passive optical component test systems for network equipment manufacturers and optical component vendors.

Chinese optoelectronics manufacturer Accelink Technologies has introduced a 1550nm 100Gb/s PSM4 transceiver based on Mellanox’s low-power, silicon photonics optical engine. This module format serves the growing demand from hyperscale and cloud data centre providers for parallel singlemode optics within data centres.

Optical components developer Finisar has announced that chairman and chief executive officer Jerry Rawls has informed the board of directors that he intends to retire as CEO of the company by the end of calendar year 2018.

The board of directors will conduct a search to identify Mr. Rawls' successor and will consider internal and external candidates for the job.

Scotland-based blown fibre specialist Emtelle has acquired German duct manufacturer Moore GmbH. The acquisition is part of a €30 million investment by Emtelle to expand its overall manufacturing capacity and presence in Europe.

Network test specialist EXFO hopes to expand its service assurance activities with the eventual acquisition of French mobile analytics firm Astellia. The pair have signed agreements for EXFO to acquire a 33.1 per cent equity stake in Astellia, worth €8.6 million, with plans to acquire the remaining equity.

Privately owned Calient Technologies has been acquired by Suzhou Chunxing Precision Mechanical Co., Ltd., who will buy a controlling stake in the company and provide manufacturing services to help it expand.

Founded in 2001, Chunxing is a publicly traded Chinese manufacturer of precision metal alloy and plastic structures for the automotive, consumer electronics, industrial, and telecom market segments.

The optical circuit switch developer will continue to operate from its Goleta, California, headquarters under the Calient brand.  

Test instrumentation specialist Viavi Solutions has snapped up Trilithic, a provider of broadband test equipment, for an undisclosed sum.

A privately held company based in Indianapolis, Trilithic has products in two main areas: broadband instruments for installation and troubleshooting inside the home, and emergency alert systems that allow service providers to transmit public alerts and warnings across any kind of network. The company is profitable with revenues in the mid $20-million range, according to Viavi.

Global carrier GTT Communications has been selected by Jisc, the provider of digital services for the UK research and education community, to provide high-speed internet transit for the Janet network.

One of the leading national research and education networks in the world, Janet supports the innovation, research and learning of approximately 18 million UK college and university users. The Janet network is also the operator in the UK for eduroam, the international wireless roaming service for the education community that supports more than 70 million users around the world.