UAV Initiative · Sourcing Research
Brazil Fiber Sourcing & G.657.A2 Drone Spool Costs
Top optical-fiber producers in Brazil, and what good-quality long-range fiber-optic drone canisters (20 / 30 / 40 km, G.657.A2) actually cost, from the factory floor to a war-zone supply chain.
Compiled 2026-05-28
Grade G.657.A2 bend-insensitive SM
Lengths 20 / 30 / 40 km
FX ~R$5.4/USD · ~83 INR/USD · ~6.9 CNY/USD
What this is
You asked for the top fiber-optic producers in Brazil and the cost of good-quality long-range drone fiber canisters (20/30/40 km, G.657.A2, Jinxingtong-class). This report answers both, and flags the one thing that matters most for the drone project: Brazil makes world-class telecom G.657.A2 glass, but nobody in Brazil makes the finished drone payout spool. That product is a China/India niche today.
Picture this: in Dnipro a commander asks "can you get us reliable cable that doesn't snap at 16 km?" The honest answer is that the raw G.657.A2 fiber can be made in Sorocaba, but the canister, the inside-out payout bobbin that pays the fiber out as the drone flies, would still be wound in Shenzhen or Gujarat, or on a winding line you build. This report is the cost map behind that conversation.
Bottom line
- Brazil has exactly two real optical-fiber makers: Prysmian (Sorocaba SP, the only full preform-to-fiber plant in Latin America) and Furukawa / Lightera (fiber drawing in Sorocaba, cable in Curitiba). Together ~70% of national demand. Both make G.657.A2.
- Caveat: Brazil's domestic fiber drawing is precarious, Prysmian nearly closed Sorocaba in mid-2024 (China lands fiber at ~$2.50/km vs ~$6/km to make it here). A 35% tariff and an anti-dumping case (decision due ~Feb 2026) are keeping it alive.
- No Brazilian company makes finished drone fiber canisters. The 20/30/40 km payout spools are sourced from China (CFOFC, GL, Zion, HOLIGHT, Jinxingtong-class) and India (FlySpark, Mall of Aviation).
- Price spread is enormous. Bare G.657.A2 fiber: ~$5.8/km (China wholesale) to ~$33-35/km (Western spot, Mar 2026). A finished 20 km spool: ~$55-360 ex-China factory, ~$1,500 India retail, and up to ~$2,500 for 50 km delivered into Ukraine (an 8x wartime markup). That markup is the sourcing opportunity.
01 Top fiber-optic producers in Brazil
Only two companies actually draw optical fiber in Brazil. Several others make cable from (mostly imported) fiber.
Prysmian Group
Sorocaba (SP) · 40+ yrs · Italian-owned
- The only plant in Latin America doing the full process, preform (the raw glass tube) through to drawn fiber.
- Makes BendBright A2 / BendBright XS = ITU-T G.657.A2 (and G.652.D), min bend radius ~7.5 mm.
- Also runs cable plants in Brazil (ex-Pirelli / Draka heritage).
At risk: threatened closure July 2024 vs Chinese dumping; saved (so far) by a 35% import tariff + pending anti-dumping case (~Feb 2026).
Furukawa Electric / Lightera
Sorocaba (draw) · Curitiba CIC (cable) · Santa Rita do Sapucaí
- Furukawa Electric LatAm now operates under the unified Lightera brand (Furukawa + OFS + Furukawa LatAm).
- Fiber-drawing plant in Sorocaba (~7 km from Prysmian); cables made in Curitiba & Buenos Aires.
- Single-mode incl. bend-insensitive (OFS AllWave FLEX, G.657.A2; ~0.18 dB/km).
Strongest combined footprint in LatAm; the practical first call for Brazilian-made G.657.A2 glass at volume.
Also in the market (cable, not fiber draw): Conduspar, Optisul, Cablena (MX), Nexans Brasil and assorted new entrants assemble cable, typically from imported fiber. Global parent leaders behind the glass: Corning, Prysmian, Fujikura, Sumitomo, OFS (Furukawa), YOFC. Brazilian telecom distributors that stock G.657.A2 drop bobbins (telecom, ANATEL-certified, not drone payout spools): GPJ, Kerax Store.
02 What "good quality" means for a drone canister
G.657.A2 is the right call, and it is the same grade the AI data-center boom is fighting over. For a drone payout spool the glass is standard G.657.A2, but the finishing is specialised: an ultra-thin coated fiber on an inside-out ("POPCORN"-style) payout bobbin that releases cleanly as the drone flies.
Fiber grade
ITU-T G.657.A2 bend-insensitive single-mode, 9/125 µm core/clad, low-water-peak, min bend radius ~7.5 mm. Splices with G.652.D.
Coated diameter
0.2-0.27 mm for light payload (telecom is 0.25 mm; drone often 0.25-0.27 mm). Thicker 0.40-0.43 mm = tougher, heavier.
Attenuation
<0.2 dB/km; total spool loss ~5-18 dB depending on length. Weight ~80 g/km of fiber.
Strength
Tensile >50 N; survives wind, tree contact, the payout snap that kills cheap spools.
Interface
FC connector typical (SC/LC/ST optional); ABS or carbon-composite canister housing.
Brands (Jinxingtong-class)
Glass: Corning, YOFC, Prysmian, OFS, Jinxingtong (金信通). Spools: CFOFC, GL, Zion, HOLIGHT, FlySpark.
Tie-back to the field reports: the "spec'd 20 km, falls at 16 km" example is
Illia's specifically (Dimas's version is that cable failure distance is manufacturer-dependent with no fixed threshold, and on failure both signal and control are lost and the drone disappears). Either way the fix is verified G.657.A2 glass + a properly wound bobbin + QC, not a new airframe. See
The Catch and
the fleet spec sheet.
03 Step 1: the bare fiber cost (per km)
The glass itself, before any spool, bobbin, connector or packaging. This is where the 2026 spike shows up.
| Source / date | Price per km | Notes |
|---|
| China wholesale, Jan 2025 | ¥16 (~$2.33) | Pre-spike baseline |
| China wholesale, Jan 2026 | ¥40 (~$5.83) | ~2.5x in a year |
| Western spot, Mar 2026 | $33-35 | Weekly price revisions; AI-data-center-driven |
| Brazil domestic production cost | ~$6.00 | Prysmian's cost to make it here |
| Chinese fiber landed in Brazil | ~$2.50 | The dumping price that nearly closed Sorocaba |
Why the spike: G.657.A2 is the same fiber AI data centers (Corning, Meta, Microsoft, Google) are buying at industrial scale. Russia + Ukraine alone consume an estimated 50-60 million km/year of drone fiber. Demand is outrunning supply.
The field anchor: Illia's last local Ukraine quote was $34/km on 2026-05-06 (he considered it a bit expensive but local) - which lands right on the Western-spot band above, and well over the China-wholesale ~$5.8/km. He also says good-quality fiber has no availability in Ukraine, order lead time is a few months, and good makers ship ~40 days after payment. That price/availability gap is the demand-side import opportunity below.
04 Step 2: cost for 20 / 30 / 40 km, with the Brazil price
Split into two simple tables: the raw glass, and the ready-to-fly canister. One price per cell. USD approximate. Brazil is the first column in both.
The Brazil price, directly
Brazil sells the raw G.657.A2 glass (Prysmian / Lightera), not finished drone canisters. At Brazil's ~$6/km production cost the fiber for a spool is cheap: ~$120 (20 km), ~$180 (30 km), ~$240 (40 km). To get a flyable canister from that you add a bobbin, payout winding, connector and QC, which Brazil has no off-the-shelf product for, so you would wind it locally (rough build cost ~$350-700 per spool at low volume, estimate). There is no Brazilian finished-canister to just buy off a shelf.
Table A · Raw G.657.A2 fiber (glass only)
| Length | BRAZIL Prysmian/Lightera, ~$6/km | China wholesale, ~$5.8/km | Western spot, ~$34/km |
|---|
| 20 km | ~$120 | ~$117 | ~$680 |
| 30 km | ~$180 | ~$175 | ~$1,020 |
| 40 km | ~$240 | ~$233 | ~$1,360 |
Table B · Finished ready-to-fly canister
| Length | BRAZIL | CHINA factory | INDIA retail | WAR-ZONE delivered |
|---|
| 20 km | none sold; wind locally ~$350-700 (est.) | ~$200-300 | ~$1,510 (₹125,999) | ~$1,000 |
| 30 km | none sold; wind locally ~$450-800 (est.) | ~$300-360 | ~$1,320 (₹110,000) | ~$1,500 |
| 40 km | none sold; wind locally ~$550-950 (est.) | ~$400-550 (est.) | ~$1,800-2,200 (est.) | ~$2,000 |
Sources, one line each. Brazil raw = $6/km production cost (Prysmian) from Section 03. China factory = CFOFC quotes US$55-360 for 3-30 km, MOQ 1. India retail = real Mall of Aviation listings (20 km ₹125,999, 30 km ₹110,000). War-zone = the ~$50/km a Ukrainian unit pays now (50 km jumped $300 to ~$2,500). Brazil finished and all 40 km values are estimates (no shelf product / catalogs top out at 30 km).
05 Real suppliers (good-quality G.657.A2 canisters)
Where the finished drone spools actually come from today. None are Brazilian; most ship to Brazil.
| Supplier | Country | Range / spec | Indicative price |
|---|
| CFOFC Communications (Shenzhen) | China | 3-30 km, 0.27/0.40 mm, G657A2, MOQ 1 | US$55-360 / pc (wholesale) |
| Hunan GL Technology / GL Fiber | China | 5-30 km, 0.27 mm, <0.2 dB/km, 80 g/km | By quote |
| Zion Communication | China | 1-30 km, 0.28 mm, G657A2 anti-jam tether | By quote |
| HOLIGHT | China | 1-60 km internal-winding, 0.23 mm core; PT-BR site, ships Brazil | By quote |
| Ningbo FB (NBFB Telecom) | China | "Outdoor launch FPV drone canister spool", G657A2 | By quote |
| FlySpark / Anushakti Infotech | India | 1-30 km, 0.26/0.43 mm, G.657A2, >50 N, FC | ₹42,000-150,000 (~$505-1,807) |
| Mall of Aviation | India | 1-30 km, 9/125 µm, G657A2, ≤18 dB | 20 km ₹125,999, 30 km ₹110,000 |
| Jinxingtong (金信通) | China | G.657.A2 glass maker (your reference brand) | By quote (Alibaba / Made-in-China) |
06 What this means for the project
The Brazil angle
Brazil can supply world-class G.657.A2 glass (Prysmian / Lightera, Sorocaba) at ~$6/km, but there is no domestic finished-canister product. Two realistic paths:
Path A, import finished spools. Fastest. Buy Jinxingtong-class G.657.A2 canisters from China (factory ~$55-360 for 20-30 km) or India retail (~$1,300-1,800). The catch is exactly the project's thesis: quality is uneven and you cannot see a defect by eye. Your wedge is verified cable + QC.
Path B, wind your own from Brazilian glass. Buy Prysmian/Lightera G.657.A2 fiber (raw for 20/30/40 km = only ~$120/$180/$240 at $6/km) and build a payout-winding + QC line. Higher setup, but it owns the quality story end-to-end and aligns with the localize-and-control strategy.
Either way, the headline number is the spread: a 20-30 km spool is $55-360 at the factory but up to ~$2,500 delivered into a war zone. Securing clean, verified supply at the low end is the opportunity. See the strategy.
Validate demand before committing a container. Illia confirmed buyers exist for an imported container of 500 boxes of 20/30 km spools and suggested Rafael (Brazilian-connected) source from Brazil. The cheap test: post a G.657.A2 spec + landed price to the 19k-member Telegram parts market and gauge reaction. Demand risk: Serhii's late-May steer is that fiber is "really good but not really in demand right now because of its cost", reserved for high-value targets while the front shifts to radio, retranslators and middle-strike. The counter-evidence: KAMIK reports ~70% of its 2025 deliveries were on optical fiber, so the segment is still large. Treat the import as a timing bet, not a sure thing.
07 Sources
Brazil producers & fiber industry: TELETIME (local makers, 2021); Forças Terrestres / BNamericas / Convergencia Digital / Abranet (Prysmian Sorocaba closure threat + anti-dumping, 2024-2026); Lightera (about-us, Furukawa rebrand & plants); Prysmian (BendBright A2 / XS G.657.A2).
Pricing & spools: DroneXL (Ukraine fiber spool 8x price jump, May 2026); Made-in-China / CFOFC (wholesale spool pricing); GL Fiber Cable, Zion Communication, HOLIGHT (specs); FlySpark / Anushakti Infotech & Mall of Aviation (India retail prices); GPJ & Kerax (Brazil G.657.A2 telecom bobbins).
Prices are indicative, 2025-2026, and move weekly. 40 km figures are extrapolated. Verify by direct quote before commitment.