Nokia has announced its research arm, Nokia Bell Labs, is presenting the first 100Gb/second broadband technology in the US at Fiber Connect 2022, Nashville, Tennessee. Nokia has achieved this record-breaking speed using 100G PON technology and will be showing the prototype in the proof-of-concept area at the event.

The prototype delivers 100Gb/s speeds in downstream on a single PON wavelength, avoiding the need to combine multiple wavelengths carrying lower speeds. The prototype parameters mimic real-world conditions including fiber distances and power split.

Whilst speeds up to 25Gb/second are possible on existing optical technologies, higher speeds require new approaches. In the Fiber Connect prototype, Nokia Bell Labs is using advanced digital signal processing (DSP) techniques that will be needed for all technologies beyond 25G PON, including 50Gand 100G PON. In an industry first for PON networks, the demonstration also showcases flexible data rates which allows for a more efficient use of the available capacity.

Stefaan Vanhastel, CTO Nokia Fixed Networks, said: “Fiber is the ultimate broadband infrastructure. It has almost unlimited capacity with only changes to the electronics at either end needed to increase speed. Today, fiber can already deliver 10G and 25G speeds. 50G will be available in the second half of this decade. With this proof-of-concept demo, we show that 100G is already within reach; all with the fiber network infrastructure that is being built today.”

Nokia was the first telco equipment vendor to enable 25G PON on the same OLT equipment that is being deployed today for GPON and XGS-PON. In addition, according to Dell’Oro, Nokia was the 2021 market share leader for XGS-PON equipment. Seven out of 10 fiber homes in the USA are served using Nokia FTTH kit.