Openreach has chosen to deploy fibre solutions from Nokia in its quest to bring fast and reliable broadband access to 20 million homes across the UK by the mid-to-late 2020s.
The fibre roll-out underpins the access network division of BT Group’s commitment to build a world-class, secure broadband network that can deliver differentiated customer experiences and provide a platform for the UK’s economic recovery, post Covid-19.
The company is focused on extending its networks to better meet evolving consumer demands, support society in unforeseen crises and help socio-economic growth. The roll-out with Nokia focuses on deploying GPON and XGS-PON fibre access technologies to expand the network to reach 4.5m premises by the end of March 2021. It’s also capable of delivering up to 10Gb/s symmetrical broadband speeds in the future, in areas where demand for additional capacity is required. Nokia’s solution has been chosen to help ensure a smooth transition from current deployments to virtualised access-network control and management software defined access networking by software upgrade.
Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach, said: ‘We’re accelerating our full-fibre build to deliver an ultrafast, ultra-reliable and future-proof broadband network throughout the UK. This new digital platform will help our economy to bounce back more quickly from the Covid-19 pandemic – enabling people to continue work from home, and millions of businesses to operate seamlessly online for decades to come.’
Sandra Motley, President of Fixed Networks at Nokia added: ‘Ensuring everybody has access to broadband services is critical, especially during unprecedented times like these where it has become the lifeline to millions working, handling healthcare and learning from home. Our fibre solutions will help Openreach bring enhanced ultra-broadband services to millions of new customers across the UK today while our 10G PON technology will help to future-proof their network against whatever may come next.’
