Vivacom Bulgaria selects Nokia to deploy next gen fiber network

Nokia and Vivacom have signed a deal to extend the GPON network in Bulgaria and introduce XGS-PON in strategic locations. XGS-PON allows Vivacom to offer 10Gbps symmetrical broadband services to residential and business customers, which is a 10-fold increase compared to the current top tier service.

Vivacom, a leading fiber access provider in Bulgaria, focuses on accelerating broadband coverage across the country. As part of this initiative, Vivacom extends the GPON network into new areas, replacing active Ethernet infrastructure with PON, and upgrading top tier customers to XGS-PON.

Vivacom chose Nokia as a sole network equipment supplier. The agreement represents an important milestone in the existing long-term relationship between the two companies.

Nokia solution enables Vivacom to make a smooth evolution by leveraging the existing assets and making incremental investments. High capacity symmetrical 10Gbs services create new business opportunities and help Vivacom prepare for 5G.

The roll-out is based on Nokia Lightspan series FX, which enables easy evolution from current traditional deployments to virtualized access-network control and management (SDN – Software Defined Networking) by software upgrade.

Atanas Dobrev, Vivacom CEO, said: “Vivacom, being already at the forefront of European mobile operators offering unparalleled mobile network speed, which has deservedly won us Ookla’s Q1/Q2 2020’s prize for Europe’s fastest mobile network, has taken a major step to ensure fastest fiber broadband access in Bulgaria. Trusting Nokia with building best in class XGS-PON infrastructure we set the course towards providing 10Gbps broadband services, creating differentiating and more attractive service bundles. In addition, the high capacity fiber networks complement our mobile network and strengthen our position in the upcoming 5G world”.

Sandra Motley, President of Fixed Networks at Nokia, said: “We see an increasing momentum for fiber access deployments and upgrades to XGS-PON, especially now that the need for broadband access has dramatically increased. We are bringing Vivacom solutions that help it to smoothly evolve its networks by leveraging its existing assets and providing advanced capabilities for future growth.”