* Joaquim Fanton

During the 1970s, European Telephone Administrations started using a new type of aerial cable. Until then, there were two different types of telephone aerial cables: cables to be lashed in steel strands; self-sustained cables. In this last case, cable core and strand wire were extruded with polyethylene and incorporated through a neck. This configuration is called Figure 8, because the cross section looks like a number eight. The new self-supporting cables were made of Aramid fiber (Kevlar), which were so tough that had their use established in the manufacture of jackets and helmets bullet-proof.

During 1979, I have been very busy designing an outside telephone plant in the city of Lagos Nigeria, but at the end of the year, I returned to Curitiba. I managed Telebrás to allow me to provide services to Telepar. During that year, my wife and children had moved to Curitiba, where they lived most of time with her family.

I went to work in the technical planning division, where I was working with rural telephony. The state's economy heavily dependent on agriculture and livestock, and telephone service was of crucial importance in rural areas. There were radio mobile phones, but cell phone was still to be invented. I had already seen optical fibers in Japan, but in a laboratory bench.

Meeting the demand of telephone services in rural areas relied of copper circuits. Then, I started studying the issues. At that time, the main alternative used to be open wires (bare wires hold by porcelain insulators fixed to wooden cross arms and those to wooden poles.

The only plausible alternative was using 0.65 mm or 0.91 mm conductors in aerial cables. Both alternatives were technically possible, but, it was very difficult closing the equation cost.

In rural areas, Telepar could only install facilities whose cost was absorbed by the customer. There was great demand, but budgets used reaching amounts beyond the means of most interested parties. The solution was minimizing costs and sharing costs between several interested parties.

To complete the equation, existing rural electrification poles should be used to sustain the cables. Investment share suggested cable pairs, not open wires. Rural power poles sharing also pointed out at cable, but this cable had to be very light, extremely durable and very strong, since the average span between rural poles was 80 meters.

I do not remember who made the call, but I ended up getting in touch with a friend who had worked in Telepar, recently moved to Santa Catarina. This friend had worked for the Deutch Bundespost and former colleagues in Germany used sent him Technical Bulletins reporting technological developments in the area. This friend was the first person to tell me about Self Supporting Fiber Cable (ASF).

He sent me a copy of a brochure. The head of the Planning Division, one of the many qualified German speaking persons in Telepar, helped me translating the brochure. We were very impressed with the cable tensile strength. The Bulletin reported 300 m! We made contact with Pirelli and Furukawam, the latter was located in Curitiba and was our main bet, but they showed great concern. They did not want to jeopardize the technical credibility of the company in an experiment that could fail. They wanted time to study about it. On the other hand, Pirelli promptly accepted the idea. The business potential was huge and they understood that the risk was worth.

Even without making sure that the idea would work, and against the cautious positioning of the Planning Division, the board of Telepar decided to bet, and placed an initial purchasing order of 200 Km of CCE-ASF. At that time, there was only a draft outlined together with Telebras. The "cabinho" as the new cable started to be called, had six pairs. The code name adopted was CCE-ASF-200-G-06. Literally: Self-Sustained Little Cable Fibers, for 200 meters, Gel-filled, 06 pairs.

In order to ensure the desired tensile strength, the sheath of the new cable received aramid fiber cords.

The first cable installation, monitored by a task force composed by Telepar and Pirelli representatives, occurred between Santa Terezinha do Iguaçu and Vila Bendo. 8 Km of CCE-ASF-200-G-06 was installed in a single day.

At that time, Vila Bendo was a humble crossroad, represented by a small chapel, a primary school and a small warehouse. In that location, a payphone was installed.

It was a total success. In the afternoon the Public Telephone installation was done.

The couple that owned the warehouse had a strong Venetian accent. And Venetians are experts in polenta. I know it because I am one of them. So, I asked to the woman if she knew how to prepare polenta.

She was so happy with the Public Telephone in front of her store, that She not only said yes. She invited us to come back the next day to eat a polenta prepared by her.

The next day were back. The warehouse was open, but empty and alone. Suddenly, there came the couple. She had a huge bowl of aluminum, filled with polenta, which should weight about 10 Kg. The husband followed her with two buckets full of stewed chicken. Our group had at least 12 young people full of appetite.

I do not know if I was very hungry, but that was the best polenta I ever had. We remained in the warehouse until the end of afternoon. The women would not accept our money, so we have it to a boy that seemed to live in the neighborhood.

Back to the subject, the 200 Km of the initial purchase order ended quickly and Telepar standardized the use of the product. The news spread and aroused the interest of other companies of the Telebrás System. Pirelli sold over 10,000 Km in a single year. Soon, other manufacturers, including Furukawa, began manufacturing and selling the product.

Current CFOA-AS cables descend from CCE-ASF cables. The copper pairs have been replaced by optical fibers.

CFOA-AS family ranges from 6 to 288 fibers. It is presently the most used cable in Brazil. It is very robust, quick to install and fully dielectric. The optical telecommunications hardly use steel strands. Dielectric strands have being used for lashing optical cables in intersections, or for any other reason.

As it could be stated, Aramid fibers, initially used in bulletproof helmets and jackets, are currently one of the main components of telecommunication plants.

Optical fibers and aramid fibers became a couple, like bread and butter or coffee and milk! 

*Joaquim Fanton is an electrical engineer from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), with 38 years of experience in optical networks. He worked as an outside plant engineer and manager for Telepar, Telesp, Telebrás and CPqD (Telebrás Research and Development Center). Today, he acts as RNP consultant and takes place in planning, designing, construction and acceptance of optical networks, including the Digital Cities Program. Travelling around the country, he accumulates stories that have been shared in this website.

[[{"fid":"6621","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Joaquim Fanton","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Joaquim Fanton"},"type":"media","link_text":null,"attributes":{"alt":"Joaquim Fanton","title":"Joaquim Fanton","height":653,"width":641,"style":"width: 100px; height: 102px; float: right;","class":"media-element file-default"}}]]