NBN Co, the organization responsible for Australia’s National Broadband Network (nbn), will deploy Nokia’s new Lightspan MF-14 optical line terminal as well as the Altiplano Access Controller in the country’s national network. The decision comes as Australian government has pledged an additional investment of $2.4 billion to deploy more fiber within the National Broadband Network, which comprises mixed communications media.
The upgrade program targets converting fiber to the node (FTTN) architectures to full fiber to the premises (FTTP). More than 1.5 million homes and businesses are expected to benefit from the effort, which will begin next year. Use of the Lightspan MF-14, which Nokia unveiled this past October, also will position the network to support 25G PON capabilities with a pathway to 50G PON and beyond, say the two groups. Meanwhile, use of the Altiplano Access Controller will add greater software-defined (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) capabilities to the network, thus improving network automation.
“Rapid technological advances will play a critical role in driving the economic prosperity of our nation and in enabling our transition to a smarter, digitally enabled economy. By leading the deployment of this next-generation technology, we can help meet our nation’s data demands now and into the future,” commented Stephen Rue, CEO at nbn. “Together with our network investment that is pushing fiber deeper into communities and extending fixed wireless and satellite coverage and capabilities, we are helping unlock social and economic benefits for households, businesses and communities across Australia.
“More than 8.5 million households and businesses are connected to services over the nbn network – this equates to approximately 20 million people relying on our network every day,” Rue added.
Nokia has supplied FTTx technology for the nbn since the latter's inception (see, for example, “Alcatel-Lucent to supply GPON gear for Australia’s National Broadband Network”). “Nokia and nbn have been partners for more than 10 years and we’re excited to continue to support nbn in this next technological evolution, deploying more advanced and energy-efficient networking technology,” stated Ricky Corker, chief customer experience officer at Nokia. “Using Nokia’s advanced fiber technology coupled with our network optimization and automation capabilities, Nokia and nbn can meet customer demand for a faster, smarter, greener broadband network today and well into the future.”
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