Openreach has selected Adtran’s SDX Series of optical line terminals (OLT)s and Mosaic Cloud Platform to help ramp up its full fibre deployment in line with the goals outlined in its Fibre First programme.
Launched in early 2018, the programme sees the access network division of BT Group working towards the target of bringing high-speed broadband to three million UK premises by the end of 2020, and overall, 20 million UK homes by the mid-to-late 2020s.
Peter Bell, network technologies director at Openreach explained: ‘We’re already making our new broadband network available to around 32,000 UK homes and businesses every week – and we’re on track to reach our target of reaching four and a half million premises with full-fibre’ by the end of March 2021. But we don’t want to stop there. Our new network will support the UK’s economy for decades to come and help it bounce back from the Covid-19 pandemic, so we’ll be accelerating our full-fibre build throughout the year.’
The use of Adtran’s SDX platform will enable Openreach to economically scale its GPON and XGS-PON network with a higher level of flexibility. Its disaggregated, flexible design provides the framework to support a large number of customers by delivering the granularity of interconnect speeds required to meet the needs of retail service providers of all sizes. Capable of supporting gigabit and multi-gigabit access links on the same OLT port, Openreach’s retail customers can deliver the right mix of enterprise, business and residential services based on their own demographics, industry type and residential interests.
Dan Whalen, Adtran’s chief product officer said: ‘Given the breadth of Openreach’s full-fibre network, having the ability to deliver GPON and XGS-PON services from the same OLT port streamlines service delivery and reduces the complexity of network design. We make it possible for any service provider, based anywhere in the country, to have the service options they require to fit their customers' needs.’
