China’s massive deployment of 5G base stations is leading to higher demand for fibre, said Anand Agarwal, Group CEO of Sterlite Technologies.

Sterlite Tech has been a star performer in 2020, up 200 percent from March lows. The stock also saw a big rally in Tuesday’s trade on the back of high demand for fibre from China as well as their expansion plans.

“China has deployed 700-1000 base stations in 2020 and they are planning to double that in the next year for 5G. For 5G base station, it is important that every single base station has to backhauled with optical fibre. So, trend-wise we can see that since China is deploying 5G in a massive manner, we can see that the fibre demand should increase in China. We are seeing this trend also coming in from all markets,” Agarwal said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

On the overall business, Agarwal expects H2FY21 to be better than H1FY21 as well as last year. “Our focus is that sequentially, quarter-on-quarter, there is performance improvement. In terms of order books and outlook, we continue to see the macros getting stronger not only from 5G but also from data centers, from rural broadband. So, different sectors, different markets, but the trends are all positive in terms of larger digital infrastructure getting built. We are seeing that globally,” he said.

On OptoTech acquisition, he said that the transaction will close early January and revenues are expected to contribute in Q4FY21. Agarwal also said that the company is looking to augment capabilities in radio and wireless.

Watch video for more.

(Edited by : Niral Sharma)