The equipment supports speeds up to 10Gbps in both directions, and can be upgraded to 25Gbps
CityFibre, one of the UK’s biggest alternative, wholesale fibre infrastructure providers, has awarded Nokia a 10-year contract for its XGS-PON equipment.
The Lightspan access nodes to be supplied by Nokia as part of this solution will be used by CityFibre to offer wholesale customers residential broadband at speeds up to 10Gbps in both directions and higher bandwidth services such as for connecting enterprises and providing backhaul for mobile networks.
The solutions are based on Nokia’s Quillion chipset, so the same access nodes can be used for XGS-PON and 25G PON (25Gbps) on the same fibre, should CityFibre wish to do this in the future. Shipments will begin in Q4 2022.
The Lightspan access node has already been proven by CityFibre, Nokia and the University of Glasgow during a trial undertaken at the end of 2021.
CityFibre expects its network to pass 8 million UK premises by 2025.