As a non-metal dielectric optical cable supplier with over a decade in the industry, I’ve watched the tides of our market shift in ways that aren’t always obvious to casual observers. If you’ve ever wondered how the market share of non-metal dielectric optical cable has changed over the last five years, let me take you behind the numbers and the choices that have shaped our segment. It’s not just about technology—sometimes it’s about the quiet challenges of infrastructure projects, the push for sustainability, and the hard lessons of old infrastructure that have made buyers reevaluate what they install. Non-metal Dielectric Optical Cable
Let’s start with a quick recap: non-metal dielectric optical cable (NDOC) is built without metal components—no steel armor, no copper strength members, no metal core wires. That makes it lightweight, corrosion-resistant, and immune to electromagnetic interference (EMI) from power lines, industrial machinery, even lightning strikes. For years, metal-jacketed optical cable was the default for most network builds, but NDOC carved out a niche in outdoor, high-interference, and environmentally sensitive areas. Now, its market share is growing faster than anyone in our segment predicted in 2019, when I first started tracking quarterly sales trends with a small team here at our facility.
Back in 2018, NDOC held roughly 12% of the global optical cable market, per the data we cross-referenced with industry reports that year. By 2023, that number hit 19%—not a meteoric rise, but a steady, consistent shift that’s been driven by three key factors. The first is the global push for renewable energy infrastructure. Wind farms, solar plants, and battery storage facilities are all built in remote locations, often near high-voltage power lines. Metal cables would pick up EMI from these lines, causing signal loss or even signal disruption that can shut down a wind farm’s turbine monitoring system. During a 2021 project with a large solar farm in the Southwest U.S., we saw a client switch from a metal cable bid to our NDOC half-way through the tender process. Their engineering team ran tests and found the metal cable’s signal was attenuated by 18% within 500 feet of the substation—enough to make the system unworkable. That same year, wind farm installations across Europe saw a 27% increase in NDOC adoption, according to a regional telecom infrastructure study, which pulled the segment’s share up by 2 percentage points in that year alone.
The second big driver is the rise of underground and aerial network builds in urban and suburban areas. For decades, aerial cable relied on metal strength members to support the weight, but cities are now banning metal cables in many areas to reduce the risk of rusted, falling cables that can cause power outages or start fires. In 2020, Los Angeles updated its public works code to restrict metal-jacketed cables in overhead right-of-ways, and by 2022, 60% of the city’s new fiber installations used NDOC instead. Aerial builds for rural broadband, too—more than 90% of the U.S. Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) projects awarded between 2021 and 2023 specified non-metal cable for pole installs, because metal cables are heavier, requiring stronger poles that add thousands of dollars to per-mile installation costs. I remember a small town in Iowa that was awarded a $5 million RDOF grant in 2022; they initially planned to use metal cable, but after we walked their crew through a site assessment, they switched to NDOC and saved $120,000 on pole reinforcement. That’s a small number for a big project, but when you multiply that across thousands of rural builds, it adds up to a massive shift in demand.
Then there’s sustainability. Companies are under more pressure than ever to reduce their carbon footprints, and metal cable manufacturing is far more carbon-intensive than NDOC. Producing steel armor for optical cable requires large amounts of coal, while NDOC uses fiberglass and plastic composites, which have a 35% lower carbon footprint per kilometer, per a 2022 lifecycle analysis by the Fiber Broadband Association. Big telecom providers like AT&T and Verizon have set science-based targets to cut scope 3 emissions by 43% by 2030, and they’re specifying non-metal cable to meet those goals. Verizon, for example, announced in 2021 that 80% of its new fiber deployments would use non-metal cable by 2025—a commitment that alone is expected to drive NDOC market share up to 22% by 2025, according to our internal forecasts.
But it’s not all smooth growth. There are still barriers holding NDOC back, and that’s why the market shift isn’t as fast as some pundits predicted. One big challenge is perceived durability. For years, network operators have used metal cable, and they have decades of data on its lifespan and maintenance needs. NDOC is a newer product, so many engineers are hesitant to switch because they don’t have a long track record of its performance in harsh environments. We’ve seen this play out in mining and heavy industrial projects, where metal cable was still preferred in 2023, despite the EMI risks—simply because operators have used metal for mining infrastructure for 50 years, and changing that requires new training, new maintenance protocols, and the cost of re-certifying existing systems. Another barrier is cost: even as production scales, NDOC is still 10-15% more expensive per kilometer than metal cable, which is a sticking point for small municipal projects and non-profit networks that operate on tight budgets. I’ve had dozens of clients tell me they’d use NDOC if the price was equal to metal cable, but right now, the upfront cost is too much for their bottom line.
We’ve also seen a slowdown in some segments where metal cable still has an edge. Submarine cable, for example, still relies heavily on metal armor for protection against underwater debris and marine life—though even that segment is starting to test hybrid cables with non-metal outer layers. In 2022, a transatlantic cable project tested a non-metal section to protect against underwater corrosion, and the results were promising, but full adoption in submarine builds is still 5-10 years away. That means metal cable still holds a strong position in undersea infrastructure, which has kept NDOC’s overall growth from being even steeper.
What’s interesting, though, is that the market share shift isn’t just happening in regions that are ahead on renewable energy or broadband. In Southeast Asia, for example, NDOC market share grew from 10% in 2019 to 17% in 2023, driven by telecom companies expanding networks in densely populated urban areas where EMI from nearby buildings and power grids is a persistent issue. Local governments in Thailand and Indonesia have also updated their building codes to restrict metal cables in city centers, mirroring what happened in the U.S. and Europe, and that’s creating demand that wasn’t there five years ago. Even in parts of Africa, where most networks have relied on cheap metal cable, rural broadband projects funded by the World Bank are starting to specify NDOC to reduce maintenance costs in areas with high humidity and salt air that corrode metal.
As a supplier, we’ve had to adapt to this shifting market too. When I joined the company in 2015, we only made three types of NDOC, all for small-scale telecom projects. Now, we produce 12 different types, including aerial, underground, and direct-burial variants, as well as custom lengths for renewable energy projects. We’ve also invested in a new production line that cut our NDOC manufacturing cost by 12% between 2021 and 2023, which has helped us win more bids from clients who were previously turned off by the price. Last year, we had a client in Brazil that was building a 100-kilometer fiber network in the Amazon, where humidity and river water corrosion made metal cable impossible. They initially considered a European NDOC supplier, but our local support and lower costs won them over—something we only were able to do because we scaled our production to meet growing demand.
Looking ahead to the next five years, I expect NDOC market share to reach roughly 25% by 2028, but that depends on two things: how much we can bring down production costs, and how quickly regulatory bodies adopt policies that favor non-metal cable for sustainability and safety. The RDOF program’s next round, opening in 2024, is already indicating that more grants will specify NDOC for rural builds, and the European Union’s 2030 Digital Decade plan includes targets for 100% sustainable telecom infrastructure, which will further drive demand. The biggest opportunity, though, is in industrial IoT (IIoT) deployments, which are set to grow 30% annually through 2030. IIoT sensors in factories, mines, and ports are exposed to constant EMI, making NDOC the only reliable option for many operators. I was at a industrial tech conference last month, and a representative from a major manufacturing company told me they’re switching 70% of their IIoT deployments to NDOC in 2024, after a year of testing reduced downtime by 40%. That’s the kind of shift that will move the needle for our segment.
Of course, there are risks too. If the global economy enters a recession, infrastructure funding—especially for renewable energy and broadband—could be cut, which would slow NDOC demand. We also face competition from new manufacturers in China and Southeast Asia, who are producing NDOC at even lower costs, which could put pressure on our pricing. But the core drivers are too strong to ignore: EMI issues are not going away, sustainability targets are becoming non-negotiable, and the infrastructure we build today needs to last 20-30 years, so choosing a cable that’s adaptable to future network upgrades makes more sense than ever.
If you’re a network operator, telecom company, or infrastructure project manager weighing your cable options, I can tell you from experience that the market for non-metal dielectric optical cable has shifted from a niche product to a mainstream choice for most new builds. The old assumption that metal cable is always cheaper or more durable is no longer true in most cases, and the long-term benefits—lower maintenance, better signal reliability, lower carbon footprint—far outweigh the small upfront cost difference.
I’ve spent my career working with engineers, project managers, and local governments to find the right cable for each job, and I’ve seen firsthand how NDOC solves problems that metal cable can’t. If you’re planning a network build and want to discuss how non-metal dielectric optical cable could work for your project, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team to connect for a procurement conversation. The infrastructure we build now will shape how we connect for decades, and choosing the right cable is one of the most important decisions you can make.
Duct Optical Fiber Cable References
- Fiber Broadband Association. (2022). Life Cycle Analysis of Optical Cable Materials: Carbon Footprint Comparisons.
- Rural Broadband Deployment Report. (2023). U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Broadband Infrastructure Office.
- European Telecom Infrastructure Market Trends. (2023). Analysys Mason, Global Optical Cable Segment Report.
- Southeast Asia Fiber Optic Deployment Update. (2023). Indonesia Telecom Regulatory Authority, Regional Network Infrastructure Division.
- Verizon Network Sustainability Targets. (2021). Verizon Communications, Global Scope 3 Emission Reduction Plan.
Hangzhou Lin’an Kexin Optical Cable Co., Ltd.
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