Nokia And NBN CO Showcase a world first 100 GIG Broadband fibre network

NBN Co and Nokia have officially conducted a successful test of 100G PON technology on a live network, rather than in a lab, for the first time. The test took place in Sydney, Australia, at a fiber exchange.

NBN Co is the national government-owned broadband network in Australia, established in 2009 to initially deliver speeds of 100 megabits. However, in 2020, this was expanded to 1 gigabit, and will soon be 2.5 gigabits. Since the 100G PON tech has not been finalized, prototype tech was used for demonstration purposes.

NBN Co achieved speeds of 83 Gbps over this 100G PON technology. Currently, NBN Co offers maximum speeds of 1 gigabit, with plans to expand to multi-gigabit in the coming years. This is 83 times higher than the highest NBN speed. NBN Co claims that this is part of their commitment to “exploring next-generation technologies.”

The demonstration also showcased the ability of multiple fiber broadband technologies to coexist on one string of fiber. For example, GPON, XGS PON, 25G PON, 50G PON, and 100G PON can coexist.

NBN Co is currently deploying the Nokia MF-14 OLT, which has the ability to support GPON up to 100G PON, all in one unit. Moreover, NBN Co is the first operator in the Southern Hemisphere to deploy this state-of-the-art OLT. They are progressively deploying this OLT right now.

We have asked NBN Co for comment regarding the NTD/ONT situation regarding the upgrade of the fiber network to 2.5 gigabits and XGS PON, as well as regarding whether it is certain that NBN Co plans to coexist with existing tech and whether the coexistence tech is ready.

Dion Ljubanovic, NBN Chief Network Officer, said that this is an incredible result and demonstrates that the fiber we continue to upgrade the network with today is only limited by the capabilities of the equipment that will connect to it in the future.

“Fiber offers a faster, more reliable, and more energy-efficient connection. This is a key driver that propels us to continue replacing copper with fiber across the country and also work closely with Australia’s property development industry to support the creation of vibrant new communities equipped with fiber connectivity.

“The average Aussie home is forecasted to download around one terabyte per month within the next decade, and technologies like augmented reality and generative artificial intelligence will place even greater demand on the network.

“We are always looking for ways to push the capabilities — in both speed and reliability — of the entire NBN network. This successful demonstration shows we have the potential to deliver a step change in next-generation speeds over our network in the long term.”

Geert Heyninck, Vice President of Broadband Networks at Nokia, mentioned that there is a huge opportunity for operators to leverage their existing fiber broadband networks to efficiently add advanced services, which goes way beyond consumer services.

“Think enterprise, mobile backhaul, Smart City, 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.

“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 optimize network performance and reduce costs.”

You can read the full press release here