Optical fiber with water-blocking coating for use in high fiber density cables and method of making same

An optical fiber cable, comprising:

• a cable jacket comprising an inner surface and an outer surface, the outer surface defining an outermost surface of the optical fiber cable and the inner surface defining a central bore extending along a longitudinal axis of the optical fiber cable;
• and
• a plurality of subunits disposed within the central bore, each subunit of the plurality of subunits comprising a plurality of optical fibers;
• wherein the plurality of optical fibers of at least one subunit of the plurality of subunits comprises at least one water-blocking optical fiber having an outermost coating layer of a UV-cured resin configured to absorb at least 20 grams of water per gram of the UV-cured resin;
• wherein the optical fiber cable has a cross-sectional area defined by the outer surface of the cable jacket, the cross-sectional area being perpendicular to the longitudinal axis;
• and
• wherein the optical fiber cable comprises a fiber density of at least 4 fibers/mm2 as measured at the cross-sectional area.