AbstractThe main feature of a cable in conduit design is to separate the manufacture of the full length of the steel conduit (400 m) and of the cable in order to minimize the industrial risk and consequently the cost. A circular cross section for that cable seems to be the most suitable for that purpose: •-axisymmetric cabling with full transpositiion of strands,•-cable behaviour independent of the field orientation,•-less deformation of subcables,•-cross section remains circular when the cable is under tension and makes the slippage of the cable in the conduit easier,•-butt welding of 8 m long tubes forming the conduit becomes simpler,•-the square external shape allows to minimize the amount of insulating material and consequently improves the overall current density of the coil. This conductor is aimed to large poloidal field coils for NET which do not require a high field and in that case NbTi seems to be the best choice with regard to reliability and cost but Nb3Sn could be used as well. Stainless steel ribbons are inserted between subcables in order to reduce losses induced by the rapid field changes and also to improve the mechanical behaviour of the cable.