Nine extra staff recruited as Hawick cable company expands

A Borders telecommunications cable company has followed up landing a £56m contract with a German firm by investing £300,000 in a new high-tech facility opened this week.
John McDevitt, fibre termination manager at Emtelle in Hawick, with factory manager Hassam Hernandez and Scottish Government minister Jamie HepburnJohn McDevitt, fibre termination manager at Emtelle in Hawick, with factory manager Hassam Hernandez and Scottish Government minister Jamie Hepburn
John McDevitt, fibre termination manager at Emtelle in Hawick, with factory manager Hassam Hernandez and Scottish Government minister Jamie Hepburn

Emtelle, based at Haughhead in Hawick, has recruited an extra nine members of staff, taking its workforce to 211, after having its fibre termination facility officially unveiled this week.

The unit’s arrival comes in response to rising demand for fibre broadband globally, and it will enable operators to deploy fibre-to-the-home more efficiently.

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The role of the facility is to cut and polish fibre so that it is ready for operators to connect it directly to customers’ homes.

That specialised process is the first of its kind to be done in-house by a European fibre cabling and microduct manufacturing facility.

Jamie Hepburn, Scottish Government minister for business, fair work and skills, was on hand to cut the ribbon at the launch of the new venture on Monday.

That follows Emtelle landing a multi-million-pound contract with a German telecommunications firm in September.

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That £56m deal with Deutsche Glasfaser is seeing the Borders company supply tube bundles and fibre cables for a nationwide fibre-to-the-home expansion.

Colin Kirkpatrick, solutions director at Emtelle, believes the launch of the latest facility is a vital step forward for the company.

He said: “It is pivotal in satisfying this increased need, providing our customers and operators with not only a high-quality product but also a highly efficient turnaround.

“We place a high value on service at Emtelle, and the opening of the facility further demonstrates our ongoing commitment to meeting the needs of today’s pre-connectorised solution market.

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“It was also a privilege to have Jamie Hepburn open the facility.

“At Emtelle, we pride ourselves on innovation, and it was great to have this recognised by such a well-respected individual in the Scottish Government.”

Emtelle – a global manufacturer of pre-connectorised, blown-fibre cable and ducted network solutions – was founded in Jedburgh in 1980 and opened an additional manufacturing plant in Hawick in 1999.

The company also runs operations in Germany and Denmark, as well as offices in the Netherlands, Sweden, Eastern Europe and Malaysia, serving more than 100 companies globally.