China Telecom has unveiled the winning candidates for the second batch of drop cables in its 2026 centralized procurement, part of a broader tender covering both outdoor and drop cables, according to the carrier's Sunshine Procurement Network. The results show that the bids from the four fiber giants came in almost identical — with the exception of Jinhua Zhongke Communication and Zhejiang Hongsheng Communication.
China Telecom kicked off its 2026-2027 outdoor and drop cable procurement on May 25 this year. The first round drew no bidders, industry insiders said, blaming sharp swings in fiber prices.
Since late 2025, demand from AI data centers and fiber-optic drones has tipped the global fiber and cable market into a severe shortage, driving prices sharply higher and dramatically shortening price cycles. The result: operators' centralized tenders have repeatedly fallen through for lack of bidders.
A prior CRU analysis of China Mobile's 2026-2027 ordinary optical cable procurement put the converted bare fiber price at roughly 81.0 yuan per fiber-kilometer (tax included) — a 329.8% jump from the converted fiber price in the 2025/2026 tender.
Yet CRU's assessment shows China's G.652.D fiber spot prices climbed even more over the same period, hitting 96.8 yuan per fiber-kilometer (tax included) in August — meaning China Mobile's converted bare fiber price still sits below domestic spot levels.