Optic components are key linkages in optic fiber networks. Only with the help of optic fiber, a type of glass line, can optic fiber networks, the most efficient transmission media in telecommunications, be put to use.

"We have shifted 80 to 90 percent of our production capacity from the United States to the Pearl River Delta region, which has proved to be a very wise move and has saved the company from the economic downturn in the United States," said Xu Jingyu, chief technology officer with Oplink Communications, the second biggest optic component vendor in the world.

Xu made the remark on Tuesday while attending the launching ceremony for the Agilent Technologies Repair and Calibration Centre in Shenzhen.

As a testing and service provider for optic component makers, Agilent followed in the footsteps of many manufacturers by launching Asia's biggest optic testing center in Shenzhen.

"Shenzhen has the ability to become China's optic valley within five years," said Nicholas Yang, vice-president of the world's top optic components maker, JDS Uniphase Corporation (JDSU).

The US-based company has received positive feedback from its factory in Shenzhen.

China has become and will remain the biggest market for optic communication equipment, said Yang.

Besides dozens of overseas companies, domestic firms are also choosing Shenzhen as their optic hub.

Huawei, which produces over half of the country's optic components, and ZTE (Zhongxing), are also headquartered in Shenzhen.

China has the best optic engineers in the world. Low labor costs and a friendly investment environment have attracted and will continue to attract more companies to invest here, said Xu from Oplink.

China has decided to significantly increase its investment in the telecom network to facilitate high speed information transmission.

China Telecom, the country's dominant fixed-line network owner, has decided to set up a nationwide broadband network composed of optic fibre in the coming three to five years.

Its present copper wires will soon be replaced by optic fibre, which supports much faster data transmission and multi-media communications, according to the company.

"The Ministry of Information Industry (MII) will continue to support the investment and development of optic component makers," said Ji Guoping, a senior MII official in charge of optic equipment manufacturing.

But he also claimed that China still lags behind the US in high-end optic technology.

"China will become an international optic valley when it controls the most recent technology, which will take years to do," said the official.

(www.chinadaily.com.cn 05/25/2001)