Nokia, Open Fiber to accelerate FTTH ultra-broadband adoption in Italy

Nokia has been awarded a contract with Open Fiber, Italy’s wholesale infrastructure operator, to supply cutting edge optical transport technology for the expansion of the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) Ultra-BroadBand (UBB) network nationwide.

Nokia is supporting Open Fiber’s commitment to build a fully fiber optical UBB network to connect more than 6,000 municipalities in all the Italian regions. With the network enabling client speeds of up to 1Gb/s, the mission supports the objectives set by the Italian Gigabit Society 2025 strategy.

Nokia and SIAE Microelettronica, a Nokia technology and services partner, joined forces in a consortium to deliver the 1830 Optical Network Extender (ONE) and Network Functions Manager-Transport (NFM-T) solutions for the aggregation layer of Open Fiber’s Access Network. The consortium will deliver services including installation and commissioning. The UBB network service will then be leased to local FTTH and fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) operators around the country.

Part of the Nokia WaveFabric optical network solution, Nokia’s 1830 ONE suite of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical transport network (OTN) metro access products is designed to have a minimal footprint while offering state-of-the-art ROADM, transport bandwidth and service grooming functionalities permitting Capex/Opex optimization. It has the modularity and density to enable more capacity for a greater number of connections and capabilities and is ideal for Access deployment in most topographies, including less accessible areas. Nokia already supports Open Fiber with optical line terminals (OLT) and optical network terminals (ONT) and services in rural areas of Italy.

Elisabetta Ripa, CEO of Open Fiber, said: "FTTH ultra-broadband infrastructure has proven to be a key factor for accelerating the digital transformation of our country, unlocking new opportunities for the Italian digital economy, boosting production and driving competiveness. We believe that also selecting Nokia’s optical network products and solutions will further accelerate our FTTH infrastructure plan, bringing reliability, openess and innovation to the market.”

Giuseppina Di Foggia, Country Senior Officer of Nokia Italy, said: “We are happy that Open Fiber has confidence in Nokia’s optical solutions to expand their ultra-broadband network for the Gigabit Society new era. This agreement is an important one for Nokia Italia and our Optics Research and Development center in Vimercate, where we meet innovation challenges with great passion, competence and professionalism. Being recognized by a partner such as Open Fiber motivates us further.”