Orange Spain conducts 400-Gbps coherent transmission trial
Orange Spain says it has become the first Spanish service provider to trial 400-Gbps coherent transmission in its WDM network. The trial, which the service provider says paves the way toward doubling the capacity of its fiber-optic network in the run up to 5G mobile services availability, used technology from Huawei.
The service provider recently put into service a 200-Gbps fiber-optic network ring linking Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Bilbao, and Valladolid. In anticipation of needing even more transmission capabilities, Orange Spain conducted trials of 400-Gbps technology, in the form of a 400G LQCP card in an OSN 9800 UPS optical transport system from Huawei. The 400-Gbps transmission ran between two nodes in Orange’s Madrid system. The service provider did not reveal the distance between the two nodes.
In addition to anticipating an increase in traffic on its backbone networks from 5G, Orange Spain points out that it is the largest provider of fiber to the home (FTTH) services in the country. Its FTTH infrastructure covers 14 million homes; Orange Spain says it added 623,000 FTTH customers in 2018. It launched FTTH services in 2013 (see "Orange launches own FTTH network in Spain").
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher
Stephen Hardy has covered fiber optics for more than 15 years, and communications and technology for more than 30 years. He is responsible for establishing and executing Lightwave's editorial strategy across its digital magazine, website, newsletters, research and other information products. He has won multiple awards for his writing.
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