This company continued to make losses this year as well even though there was a 7.4 percent growth in its turnover. The company suffered a loss of Rs 12.39 crore. The only silver lining in its performance during the last fiscal was the fact that this year’s loss was far less than the Rs 24.78 crore lost in 1998-99.

It is presently engaged in manufacturing optical fibre, optical fibre cables (OFC), and polyethylene-insulated jelly filled cables, accessories and networking equipment. It claims to be the first OFC company in the country to get an ISO-9002 certification from STQC and BSI in 1994. It has got the self-certification for its products and facilities under Approved Inspection Scheme by Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), DoT and Research Design and Standard Organisation of Indian Railways. Its vertically integrated plant is located in the heart of Madhya Pradesh at Mandideep, 25 km away from Bhopal. The MP government holds 60 percent stake in it and public, financial institutions and the company’s Japanese collaborator Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd hold the rest of the equity.

Despite lackluster performance on the business front, Optel had some remarkable achievements in 1999-00. The development of a new process of making optical fibre increased its capacity of 375 km to 1,000 ckm. It claimed to have achieved 100 percent capacity utilization.