The first nationwide 10-gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network in Europe is being deployed by Nokia (News - Alert) and Starman, the companies announced this week. The network will be capable of supporting per-customer bandwidth of 1Gbps in the near term and up to 10Gbps as required.
Starman, a cable operator in the Baltic States, will leverage the network to more cost effectively deliver ultra broadband to residential customers in Estonia, and to support triple play services in its footprint. That’s important given Estonia has seen 50 percent year-over-year network traffic growth in these arenas.
The Nokia 10G EPON solution was the most attractive choice to enable that for Starman because it allowed for reuse of existing ducts in the street, enabling the company to employ its in-house cabling rights to deliver fiber to each apartment. Starman also liked the low-touch integration into Starman’s existing cable network and DOCSIS back-end systems that the solution’s DOCSIS provisioning over EPON enabled.
The rolling commercial turn up of the network is slated to begin in the fourth quarter following lab and field tests.
EPON can be used to deliver broadband consumer and enterprise services including data, video, and voice traffic. It can also be leveraged to support mobile backhaul services.
According to an FTTx study released by Ovum (News - Alert) a year ago this month, next-gen OLT transceivers are forecast to represent slight more than 12 percent of the total OLT transceiver market in 2020, with 10G EPON OLTs representing the largest segment within next-gen PON. China, Ovum added, is the single largest consumer of PON optics in the world.
“Despite reported economic headwinds, the Chinese government continues to subsidize telco investments in fiber infrastructure to expand accessibility and throughput. The result is heavy spending on GPON and EPON ONTs,” Jeff Heynen, research director for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics (News - Alert), said late last year.
Edited by
Peter Bernstein
