Network Convergence Opportunity Continues to Drive 10G PON Deployments

ROANOKE, VA — Broadbandtrends recently conducted a global service provider survey of leading broadband operators regarding their plans to deploy 10G PON technology within their network. 10G PON offers operators the opportunity to offer both higher bandwidth and symmetrical services, while simultaneously addressing the bandwidth, latency and the densification requirements of the emerging 5G network.

Key findings of the survey include the following:

• XGS-PON is the 10G PON technology of choice to serve both residential and business segments
• Coexistence & migration from existing network to new network, was the overwhelming concern for operators followed by costs to deploy 10G PON
• The ability to have a converged architecture supporting multiple applications and support for multi-gigabit residential broadband are the key drivers for implementation of 10G technologies.
• Business services will be the primary initial applications for 10G PON deployments, followed by residential triple-play, with mobile network support in the future
• Deployment of 10G PON for residential applications is not expected until 2020 for the majority of operators
• Although 10G PON can offer very high bandwidth – the majority of operators only plan to offer 2-5Gbps to the residential market segment
• The majority of operators are expected to move from GPON–>XGS PON for their evolution to 10G PON
• Migration to NG-PON2 is not expected to occur for the majority of operators until 2022 or later
• The ability to bond multiple 10G wavelengths together ranked very important for the majority of survey participants, however, it was not rated by any operators as a key driver
• The need for even higher bandwidth PONs (greater than 10G PON) is not expected until 2024 or later
• Relationship with the trusted vendor account team has the greatest influence in vendor selection for 10G PON

GPON Technology Evolving

GPON remains the most prevalent FTTH technology. However, its current bandwidth capabilities and its asymmetric characteristics do not provide enough capacity to support the expected growth in bandwidth demand. Therefore, operators are looking at the latest iterations of the PON standard – 10G PON – for their future network requirements. At present, there are a variety of 10G options available to operators – including 10G EPON, XG-PON1, XGS-PON and NG-PON2.

NG-PON2

NG-PON2 is considered the ‘ultimate” future proof technology – offering multiple wavelengths supporting up to 40Gbps and capable of serving multiple/different segments on each individual wavelength. Additionally, the ability to bond wavelengths together to offer even higher bandwidth options, positions this technology well for future bandwidth growth.

Key characteristics that are attracting operators to these next-generation PON solutions include the ability to offer a converged network for both residential and business services, support for multi-gigabit residential broadband along with the ability to re-use many portion of their existing optical distribution network (ODN).  However, there is great concern regarding the coexistence and migration from the existing network to the new network.

However, unlike previous PON networks – which primarily served residential customers; the variety of applications that can be supported with 10G PON has opened up new market segments could help ease cost concerns for operators.  As such, many operators are initially targeting the high-value business/enterprise segments for their early deployments to achieve a faster ROI.

To position their networks for future growth, many operators plan to take a step-wise approach to their 10G PON migration with a large majority focusing on XGS-PON for the first phase of their roll-outs.  Although operators have expressed a strong interest in NG-PON 2 – the timing for this migration remains well into the future for a large majority.