Abstract: An optical cable for use in an overhead optical transmission system in which the cable is supported along the route of the system by means of towers, masts or other upstanding supports that are also employed to support electrical power cables, includes one or more optical fibers and an electrically insulating jacket (8). The cable includes an array of elongate conductive elements (10, 12) each of which extends along a portion of the cable, adjacent conductive elements axially overlapping each other with overlapping portions circumferentially spaced apart to form a composite conductive path that extends along the cable and is interrupted when the cable is dry. Adjacent conductive elements (10, 12) are resistively coupled to each other when the surface of the cable is wet to form a continuous electrically conductive path along the cable. Such a form of cable has the advantage that the dry-band arcing under wet conditions is reduced by disrupting the geometry that allows such bands to form.