Nokia to extend fiber broadband equipment manufacturing in India

Feb. 9, 2023

The company says increased demand for PON OLTs in India and other international markets sparked the decision.

Nokia says it will extend manufacturing of GPON optical line terminals (OLTs) at its factory in Sriperimbudur near Chennai, India. The company says increased demand for PON OLTs in India and other international markets sparked the decision.

Such demand comes in part from Nokia’s participation in the Government of India’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) program. Meanwhile, the company says it continues to see growing interest in PON in other nearby markets such as Japan and Southeast Asia. Expanding the view to optical communications in general, Nokia says it is seeing significant fiber-technology demand from mobile network operators (MNOs) in the region as they deploy 5G and need optical transport in support.

“The importance and criticality of high-speed broadband has never been more pronounced as it is today,” commented Sandy Motley, President Fixed Networks at Nokia. “As the momentum towards 5G networks and new hybrid usage models push operators towards increasingly distributed network architectures, service providers are investing in fiber to build out and upgrade their existing networks. Nokia is the leader in FTTx solutions globally and is innovating rapidly to introduce next-generation PON solutions. We are happy to add the manufacturing capacity in India to better address increasing demand in the region and worldwide.”

“India is seeing massive demand for fiber connectivity from both fixed and mobile operators. OLT production at our Chennai plant will offer a timely boost to meeting this demand in a timely way. Service providers in India will benefit from the increased availability of both existing Lightspan product lines as well as upcoming GPON access nodes which offer smaller lower-density OLTs to suit a range of conditions and requirements,” added Sanjay Malik, senior vice president and head of India market at Nokia.

For related articles, visit the FTTx Topic Center.

For more information on FTTx technology and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.

To stay abreast of fiber network deployments, subscribe to Lightwave’s Service Providers and Datacom/Data Center newsletters.

About the Author

Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave

Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.

Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.

He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.

You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.