Google, Nokia Successfully Test 50G PON

July 11, 2024 – Nokia and Google Fiber successfully tested 50 gigabits per second (Gbps) broadband speeds over its existing fiber network, they announced on Monday.

This marks the first successful live network demonstration of 50G PON technology in the United States. Leveraging Nokia’s fiber solution, Google Fiber was able to showcase “network flexibility and scalability” to “keep pace with growing demand for multi-gigabit services in the future,” said the press release.

A PON service can support multiple clients from a single router by splitting a fiber-optic strand from an optical line terminal. It differs from an active optical network which dedicates each end user their own fiber optical line by an electrically-charged switcher that manages the signal distribution from the fiber line to service the end destinations. Both technologies are solutions for fiber-to-the-home network connections, but PONs are often preferred by providers because of the lower cost of deployment.

The 10-gigabit symmetrical PON, or XGS-PON, and the symmetrical 25G PON are evolutions of Gigabit PON, which only provides 2.5 Gbps downstream and 1.25 Gbps upstream.

Google launched the first 25G PON commercial service with Nokia in 2023. “This test with Nokia builds on the 25G PON deployment we announced together last year, paving the way for future improvements to our network,” said the Senior Director of product and billing at Google Fiber Liz Hsu.

Vice President of broadband networks at Nokia, Geert Heynick, added that the technology will allow Google Fiber to future-proof its network.

Industry leaders have expressed that they are beginning to face capacity issues with GPONs which are still being widely deployed, despite more and more services requiring higher capacity and demand. 

In June, Nokia announced that it is partnering with internet service provider AccessPlus to deploy the Finland-based telecommunications company’s XGS-PON fiber solution to enhance AccessPlus’s fiber network.