Swisscom recently demonstrated what will be available just a few years from now to cope with increasing data volumes – by achieving a transmission speed of 50 Gbit/s in a real network environment in the access network.
Swisscom has now achieved the next milestone in a real network environment in the access network by upgrading existing OLT (Optical Line Termination) hardware with a 50 Gbit/s PON (Passive Optical Network) Line Card prototype, enabling a download transmission speed of 50 Gbit/s and an upload transmission speed of 25 Gbit/s on a fixed network connection.
Swisscom estimates that the technology will be ready to market and deploy in around two years. The company is currently focusing on two areas of application in particular, as Markus Reber, Head of Swisscom Networks explains: “In my opinion, PON with 50 Gbit/s will be an option for the business customer market initially. Progressive network virtualisation will enable companies to use the bandwidth they need on a flexible basis in line with their requirements, for instance. In contrast, the 10 Gbit/s already available in the residential mass market should be more than enough for several years to come. However, the 50 Gbit/s option offers even more opportunities, as it allows the existing fibre optic infrastructure to be deployed in a more versatile way. As an example, the technology will soon facilitate access to mobile communication masts, particularly for 5G, as the same network can be used as the one already built to connect households. With a transmission speed of 50 Gbit/s, there is ample bandwidth available.
