Openreach conducts ‘first-ever’ 25G PON tests

According to the broadband giant, the new full-fibre technology “could deliver ultra-reliable broadband services that are 10 times faster than today's UK standard deployments”.

The Nokia-designed 25G PON technology, first trialled in Belgium by Proximus earlier this year, is capable of delivering download speeds of 25Gbps over a single optical fibre.

Openreach claims it can run the new technology on the same underlying network infrastructure that it has across the UK. According to Nokia’s fixed networks’ president Sandy Motley, “[our] Quillion chip allows [Nokia] to have a solution that supports three generations of PON technology from a single platform that is already in the Openreach network”.

Nokia’s system utilises 25G PON technology that includes high-capacity Lightspan access nodes for massive scale fibre roll-outs as well as 25G/10G optical cards and fibre modems.

Lightspan nodes are traditionally employed to connect up thousands of users via optical fibre between telecom central offices, aggregating their broadband traffic and sending it deeper into the network. For the Proximus trial, Nokia connected the port-based Havenhuis building with the Proximus central office in the city centre of Antwerp.