Frontier claims North American first with 100G broadband

After a technical trial in partnership with Nokia that aimed to demonstrate how existing fibre can transition with the roll-out of new technologies that demand ultra-fast connectivity, US full-fibre connectivity provider Frontier is claiming to have become the first company in North America to successfully demo record-breaking broadband speeds of 100G, 50G, 25G and 10G Passive Optical Networks (PON) technologies simultaneously on an existing network.

Driven by the purpose of Building Gigabit America, Frontier regards itself as the largest pure-play fibre provider in the US, leading the “un-cable revolution”.

It believes the trial demonstrates that as new technologies become available, and to meet the increasing demand for ultra-fast connectivity, it can easily adapt and use fibre that was built decades ago, and will also be in the ground decades from now. The net result will be to allow operators to select the right mix of technologies based on their needs and business cases. 

The Frontier network supports 10G and 25G fibre speeds to homes and businesses, and the provider said using Nokia’s Lightspan MF Fiber PON platform enables it to deliver unprecedented speeds well into the future, enabled by 100G PON.

Nokia said that as broadband shifts from fibre to the home to fibre for everything, providers need a platform that will enable them to connect consumers, businesses, industry 4.0, mobile sites, wholesale and smart cities, all on a single access infrastructure.

Lightspan MF is said to be the comms industry’s first family of software-defined fibre access nodes designed to provide non-blocking delivery of massive scale, high-speed broadband services with 25G PON, 50G PON and beyond. It’s available in different form factors and based on the Nokia Quillion chipset.

With the Nokia platform combined with what it called its “unique” quad band coexistence technology, Frontier claimed it now has the ability to deliver multiple broadband speeds on a signal strand of fibre at scale across its entire network. It said it can now “easily” upgrade its network and use its existing fibre to deliver the “blazing-fast speeds” its customers are said to want and need today, tomorrow and for decades to come.

Veronica Bloodworth, Frontier executive vice-president and chief network officer, said: “We are proud to partner with Nokia to lead the industry in successfully trialling ultra-fast speeds enabled by 100G PON technology. As demand for faster broadband continues to grow, we have demonstrated our ability to achieve these speeds using our existing fibre network.

“This trial reinforces our commitment to operational excellence and features the advanced technology created by our Fiber Innovation Labs team, who are always pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for our network and our customers.”

“This trial is a game-changer for operators seeking new ways to meet evolving business needs without major network upgrades,” added Sandy Motley, president of fixed networks at Nokia. “Our fibre technology, combined with Frontier’s unique coexistence solution, opens the door to a full range of PON technologies available on the same platform and fibre. This includes 10/25G PON today and 50/100G PON moving forward. This means operators can select the right mix of technologies based on their needs and business case.”