Optical fiber cable and optical unit extraction method

An objective of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber cable whereby it is easier to split the outer covering with a notch as a starting point of said split and to extract an internal optical unit, and which is not prone to experiencing transfer loss in the optical fiber due to cable bending or temperature changes. Provided is an optical fiber cable (1) which is formed by encasing in an outer sheath (3) having a rectangular cross-section shape an optical unit (2) which houses a plurality of optical fibers (5) within a film (4) which is formed in a cylindrical shape such that both ends overlap. In the outer sheath, tensile strength bodies (12) are positioned on either side of the optical unit along a common line, and release papers (13) are positioned in parallel with the common line along which the optical unit and the tensile strength bodies are positioned which sandwich the optical unit therebetween above and below for extracting the optical unit. Two notches (11) for splitting the outer sheath are further disposed respectively on the upper and lower faces of the outer sheath in the longitudinal sides thereof, and the optical unit is not positioned in lines (S1) which join vertically opposing pairs of the notches.