Telefónica and Nokia claim symmetrical 10 Gbps speeds from latest PON FTTH platform with expected support for 5G mobile backhaul and traffic aggregation.
Telefónica said it completed a successful trial for its planned “5G” network using Nokia’s XGS passive optical network fiber-to-the-home technology.
The lab trial is said to have delivered symmetrical broadband speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second, which is four-times the speed provided by current XG-PON1 technology. The XGS-PON platform is targeted to support 5G network plans for use in mobile backhaul or the aggregation of remote access node traffic.
“We are sure that XGS-PON is the correct choice to fulfill demands for gigabit bandwidth and will support the higher symmetric bandwidth required to support 5G backhaul in the future,” said Francisco Javier Fabián, fixed access and real state director at Telefónica, in a statement.
Nokia noted the technology provides a “simple upgrade path” from the current GPON fiber technology used by Telefónica. The vendor claims nine customers have installed its XGS-PON equipment since launch in 2015.
“The enhancements to our next-generation PON portfolio make it easier and more cost effective for service providers to seamlessly evolve their existing fiber networks in line with demand,” added Federico Guillen, president of Nokia’s Fixed Networks business group, in a statement.
RCR Wireless News recently spoke with Michael Murphy, CTO for North America at Nokia, to discuss the company’s view on 5G technology.
Telefónica has been active in the 5G space, having signed network partnership agreements with a handful of vendors, including Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei and ZTE.
For Nokia, the latest trial builds on its work in the 5G space. The vendor has scored work with a number of carriers, including U.S. Cellular, Bell Canada, AT&T, Verizon Communications, Sprint and T-Mobile US. Many of those trials have included millimeter wave spectrum, which is seen as key to next-generation network deployments.
Nokia recently stated it had conducted the first demonstration of a 5G network running on commercial platforms, which used the vendor’s AirScale Radio Access technology and Cloud Packet Core running on an AirFrame data center platform.
A number of telecom operators have announced plans to begin commercial trials of 5G systems next year, despite the fact standards are not expected to be ratified until early 2018. These prestandard deployments are set to focus on mobile broadband use cases, which typically will not require a significant amount of interoperability between various operator deployments.
Bored? Why not follow me on Twitter.
