Gabo Systemtechnik (Niederwinkling / Germany; www.gabocom.de) is expanding. At the company’s headquarters in Germany, the telecommunications system supplier is enlarging its production and storage areas by 10,000 m². By the end of 2018, its production capacity for HDPE microduct systems is to be increased by 50%, says managing director Markus Karl.

The firm is also expanding its activities in the UK, with the founding of sales and service subsidiary gabocom. Growth prospects in the UK are deemed good. Karl says the UK “has some catching up to do in laying down fibre optic cables and local network operators have tangible expansion plans.” So far, only 2% of households have been installed with fibre-to-the-home (FTTH). Karl estimates the market volume for his company’s “speedpipe” microduct systems at EUR 25-30m. The company also has operations in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Belgium.

In recent years, Gabo has benefited enormously from the expansion of broadband technology in Europe. This has also had an impact on its workforce – the staff has more than doubled to 185 employees since 2010. Since 2017, Gabo is owned by investment company Bregal Unternehmerkapital (Munich / Germany; www.bregal.de), which bought the company from Findos Investor.