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Nokia has announced that NBN Co, Australia’s largest wholesale broadband provider, has successfully completed the world’s first live network demonstration of multiple next-generation PON technologies.

Leveraging Nokia’s fibre access platform, nbn was able to deliver 10G, 25G, 50G, and 100G broadband speeds over its existing fibre network. The successful results demonstrate how operators and wholesalers can effortlessly scale their fibre access network, addressing the growing demand for faster connectivity needed by premium users, enterprises, and Industry 4.0 for generations to come.

“This is an incredible result and demonstrates the fibre we deploy in our network is only limited by the capabilities of the equipment that will connect to it into the future,” said Dion Ljubanovic, Chief Network Officer at nbn. “We are always looking for ways to push the capabilities of the nbn network and with the average Australian home forecast to download around 1 terabyte per month within the next decade, this successful demonstration showcases the world-class capabilities of nbn fibre to support the next generation of broadband services in the long term.”

Fibre is a future-proof, energy-efficient technology that operators increasingly use to connect everything with multi-gigabit services. Today, operators worldwide are deploying up to 20Gb/s speeds with XGS-PON and 25G PON to meet growing bandwidth requirements, deliver better end-user experiences, and create new revenue-generating services. When the demand for speeds above 20Gb/s emerges, 50G and 100G will be able to address these needs.

Allowing Operators Like nbn to Do More

Designed to support a full range of PON technologies, from GPON to 100G PON, Nokia’s Lightspan platform gives operators the choice and flexibility to optimise their network to their specific business case and needs. Using Nokia’s fibre platform, an operator like nbn would be able to add capacity to their network, demonstrating the co-existence of multiple PON technologies.

For example, nbn was able to show 10G, 25G, 50G and 10G, 25G, and 100G on the same fibre. This trial shows how operators can easily enhance 10G PON to symmetrical 25G PON and eventually evolve to 50G PON or 100G using the same passive and active fiber components.

Geert Heyninck, Vice President of Broadband Networks at Nokia, said:  “There is a huge opportunity for operators to leverage their existing fibre broadband networks to efficiently add advanced services which goes way beyond consumer services. Think enterprise, mobile backhaul, Smart City, and Industry 4.0. It’s important for service providers to have choices to match the right speed and cost points to meet the different use cases and market requirements they may have.”

Heyninck added: “As the industry’s first and only solution capable of supporting the full range of PON technologies from 10G to 25G, 50G, and even 100G, we can give operators the freedom and flexibility they need to meet their business needs while also helping to optimise network performance and reduce costs”

Jaimie Lenderman, Principal Analyst and Research Manager at Omdia said: “PON has been the technology of choice for broadband operators for years. With the recent, rapid global expansion of next-gen fibre access networks, the entire telecoms industry is now taking note. Nokia’s demonstration showcases the strength of the PON technology today and the multiple pathways available to support the applications of tomorrow. The flexibility to choose between 10G, 25G, 50G, and eventually 100G and beyond empowers operators to customise their networks based upon customer requirements and future service plans for residential, enterprise, and beyond.”

Did You Know?

Some tidbits of trivia to take note of:

• Nokia is the number one vendor for XGS-PON technology globally according to 2023 market share figures from Dell’Oro and Omdia.
• There are more than 10 operators around the world who are already gaining the benefits of 25G PON, and the eco-system is maturing with more than 5 ONT vendors bringing 25G PON solutions to the market.
• Some operators currently deploying 25G PON include Google Fiber, EPB, Vodafone Qatar, and OGI.
• The eco-system for 25G PON is mature with more than 60 operators, system vendors, chipset and optical suppliers part of an MSA focused on standardising and accelerating the technology.
• Nokia is a key contributor to 50G PON industry standard and introduced the industry’s first true 50G platform in 2020 with the Lightspan MF platform.
• Once the 50G PON industry matures, the step to 100G is straightforward.
• In 2021, Nokia became the first vendor to demonstrate a 100G PON POC demo.

 About the Lightspan MF-14 Platform

Here are some important details about the Lightspan MF-14 platform:

• 4x higher capacity than previous generation, ensures smooth evolution to massive connectivity with 10, 25, 50, 100G PON.
• No single point of failures, ensuring the highest availability (six nines) in the market. This is important because consumers and businesses depend on broadband non-stop.
• Sub millisecond latency for 5G transport and new array of industry 4.0 applications.
• 20% higher power efficiency than the industry average so operators can decrease overall power consumption as they connect more points on fiber network and meet sustainability targets.
• Modular software architecture for more agility for upgrading software and onboarding of new functionality, with much less effort and time.
• SDN programmability and open APIs to enable control function by Nokia or third party network control functions.
• Fast telemetry and digital mirror in the cloud for enhanced network overview.

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