Apparatus for connecting metal tubes covering optical fiber cables and method of joining or splicing two optical fiber cables

An apparatus for connecting metal tubes covering optical fiber cables includes at least two clamp units 10, 10' for holding a metal sleeve (C5) and two metal tubes (C2, C2') covering two optical fiber cables (C, C') in close position. A laser welding head is placed between two adjacent clamp units. Each clamp unit has a gear (22) as a rotation body to be driven by a drive gear, a clamp device (28, 33, 34) for clamping the metal tube covered optical fiber cables which are introduced in inserting holes (31) where the metal tube covered optical fiber cables are inserted. The clamp device is supported by the rotation body (22) so as to be movable together with the rotation body. The rotation body and the clamp device each are provided with a radially extending selectively open or blocked extraction path (36, 22') to remove, in a radial direction, the metal tube optical fiber cable which has been connected by the apparatus.