Increased Demand Fuels Gains at Optical Cable

ROANOKE, Va., June 13--Optical Cable Corp. reported sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2000 of $13.0 million a 5 percent increase from the same 1999 period. Net income increased 37 percent to $2.7 million, or $0.071 per diluted share, compared to net income of $1.96 million, or $0.052 per diluted share, in the 1999 period.
The pace of fiber deployment is clearly accelerating, said Robert Kopstein, president and CEO of the company, especially for close-in fiber deployments which is Optical Cable's area of expertise. Businesses are hungry for the next generation of broadband services, and they are beginning to realize that copper connections to public fiber networks simply can't deliver adequate bandwidth. Increasingly, they are pursuing end-to-end fiber solutions.