Nokia unveils 25G PON fibre modems

Looking to establish a mass market for passive optical network (PON) residential fibre optical network terminals (ONTs), Nokia has announced the launch of two 25G PON fibre modems designed to deliver mass-market, high-speed residential connectivity.

Explaining the rationale for the launch, Nokia said demand for multi-gigabit services is growing, moving beyond traditional enterprise premises and into the home where users seek high-speed connectivity for cloud applications, remote work and Wi-Fi 7.

It added that fibre broadband keeps on delivering value and that evolutions in the technology enable the introduction of more services, use cases, revenues and enhanced competitiveness.

25G PON works on the same fibre network and equipment that operators already use to deliver GPON and 10G PON services, and the new indoor fibre modems have been designed to provide speeds up to 20 times faster than existing gigabit solutions. This capability allows operators to quickly and cost-effectively increase speeds on their network and get the most out of their fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) investment, according to Nokia.

The company regards 25G PON as the next evolutional step beyond the XGS-PON solutions that are currently being rolled out by leading communications operators across Europe. In the UK, XGS-PON is initially underpinning VMO2’s broadband services using Nexfibre’s full-fibre network, which is projected to cover five million homes by 2026, with the option of reaching a total of seven million homes beyond that.

The new 25G PON optical modems are designed for multi-Gigabit connectivity to any end point: homes, enterprises or mobile cell sites. In addition, Nokia said with 25G PON, operators can turn multi-Gig and 10G+ into mass-market services and know they can reliably deliver advertised speeds to all subscribers, all the time.

Such technology is currently used by 17 operators, including Google Fiber, Frontier and Hong Kong Broadband. It is designed to provide an easy, cost-effective way to address residential demand for faster broadband speeds.

The two residential 25G PON fibre modems complement Nokia’s growing 25G PON portfolio, which includes the Lightspan FX, DF and MF fibre access optical network terminal (OLTs) platforms, a 25G PON ONT designed for enterprise applications, and the industry’s first 25G PON sealed fibre access node for cable operators.

“To support next-gen power users, operators must build future-ready broadband networks that scale beyond 10G,” said Jaimie Lenderman, principal analyst at Omdia, commenting on the launch. “As technology advances, higher-capacity solutions like 25G PON are emerging as a simple, cost-effective way to meet tomorrow’s connectivity demands. With growing competition, differentiation, time-to-market and scalability will remain critical for providers to stay ahead.”

Geert Heyninck, general manager of broadband networks at Nokia, added: “We are investing in all next-generation PON technologies, including 10/25/50/100G PON, to give operators the best option to meet their needs and their business goals.

“25G PON is a proven technology that can be easily activated on our existing 10G XGS-PON solutions. We have close to two million 25G-capable ports in the field already. These new 25G PON fibre modems provide a simple, efficient way to boost capacity and stay ahead of growing demands.”