NBN Co has made a made a leap toward readying Australia’s digital backbone for multi-gigabit speeds, announcing today it has selected Nokia’s next-generation broadband technology to deploy on the nbn^® network. 

The deal will see nbn deploy Nokia’s latest MF series Optical Line Terminals (MF-14) and the Altiplano Access Controller on the nbn network, offering a significant increase in flexibility, improved customer experience and the option to support higher capacity broadband technologies, such as XGS PON, 25GS PON, 50G PON and beyond. 

nbn will be one of the first in the world – and the first operator in the southern hemisphere – to deploy the Nokia MF-14. It will allow nbn to move from the wholesale residential gigabit speeds offered today to multi-gigabit residential speeds across the nbn Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) network and help address Australia’s broadband needs well into the future. 

The technology is also more energy efficient and will help nbn to realise the company’s Towards-Zero Carbon Ambition by helping to decrease the overall power consumption of the network.

In November, the nbn network reached a record peak rate of 22.35 terabits per second downstream traffic, and this number is expected to increase up to 100 terabits per second in the next ten years.^#

The Altiplano Access Controller will bring web-scale software management and control to the nbn network. This will allow nbn to deploy enhanced customer experience tools, incorporate smarter systems and automation to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency.

Stephen Rue, nbn Chief Executive Officer, said:

 “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. 

“Together with our network investment that is pushing fibre 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.

“nbn’s purpose is to lift the digital capability of Australia and the success of our investment strategy will underpin Australia’s global competitiveness and the economic future of the nation.” 

Ricky Corker, Nokia’s Chief Customer Experience Officer said: 

“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. 

“Using Nokia’s advanced fibre 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.”

Having deployed GPON technology in the FTTP network for over a decade, nbn has been investigating the evolution of the fibre network for some time. Most recently, the company achieved successful lab testing of 25 gigabit per second FTTP technology to achieve 10 times the download capacity of existing technology.

Today’s announcement is a continuation of a long-standing partnership between nbn and Nokia to continually push the boundaries of innovation in the upgrade and development of the nbn network, including the evolution of access technologies in pursuit of a future-ready network. 

The partnership complements a 10-year agreement recently secured for the supply of Nokia’s next-gen Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) for the nbn fixed wireless upgrade program that will help extend reach and capability and support the introduction of two new high-speed tiers. 

Deployment of the technology will begin in 2023.

Important Note

^# nbn provides wholesale services to phone and internet providers. nbn wholesale plans and speed tiers available to providers vary depending on the access technology in your area. An end customer’s experience, including the speeds actually achieved over the nbn network, depends on the nbn access network technology and configuration over which services are delivered to the customer’s premises, whether they are using the internet during the busy period, and some factors outside of nbn’s control (like the customer’s equipment quality and software, chosen broadband plan, signal reception, or their provider designs its network).