Nokia, Chunghwa Telecom demo 25G PON viability for 5G fronthaul

Nokia has successfully completed a trial in partnership with Chunghwa Telecom Laboratories (CHT-TL), which verified 25G PON’s capability for small cell fronthaul. 

Operators are already using fibre broadband networks to carry backhaul traffic. This industry-first trial demonstrates that these same networks using 25G PON technology could also support the capacity low latency demands of 5G fronthaul, potentially providing gains in total cost of ownership by converging networks instead of building costly new transport routes. 

Nokia’s 25G PON uses its Quillion chipset to efficiently boost capacity of the existing fibre nodes to 25Gb/s, enabling operators to offer additional services, such as mobile transport or enterprise connectivity. In addition, PON based transport has low energy consumption, further reducing operating costs and helping meet greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. 

Dr. Rong-Shy Lin, CTO and Executive Vice President of the Chunghwa Telecom Company and President of the Chunghwa Telecom Laboratories, says: “A stable optical network aligned with a focus on reduced total cost of ownership is key for a successful transport solution providing coverage for a mobile network. We have verified that 25G PON can co-exist with our high-speed broadband network, leveraging the outside plant, which is the cornerstone to the success of fixed-mobile convergence.”

Jason Liu, President of Nokia Solutions & Networks Taiwan, adds: “This is a fantastic new use-case for 25G PON that is already being adopted for consumer and business services. Chunghwa Telecom joins a global list including giants like AT&T, Google Fiber, cities like Chattanooga in the U.S., and challenger brands like Ogi in the UK, who are trialling and introducing 25G PON. We are pleased to support Chunghwa Telecom to achieve its goal of converging fixed and mobile networks and at the same time fulfil its green commitments towards a sustainable environment.”