XL Axiata, Nokia bring gigabit speeds to Indonesia with first Wireless PON services

Nokia and XL Axiata, a leading Indonesian telecom operator, successfully deployed the first Wireless PON (WPON) service in Indonesia as part of a technology trial.

XL Axiata brought free, high-speed wireless services to the public, local and international athletes attending the regional sporting event in the Kota Tua area. Supporting the local government's efforts to promote the area as a friendly tourist destination with superior broadband speeds, Nokia's WPON solution successfully delivered 1Gpbs aggregate broadband access speeds.

Nokia's industry leading WPON technology combines Passive Optical Networks (PON) with WiGig, a high-speed, 60 GHz standard otherwise known as 802.11ad. With WPON, XL Axiata was able to extend the reach of its fiber network by connecting to WPON Access points which in turn connect endpoints with wireless drops. Beamforming is used to bring reliable connections of up to 1Gbps to end users. With the ability to connect multiple access points in a row, XL Axiata was able to bring fiber to a street corner and wirelessly extend the network avoiding the costs of bringing fiber all the way to the event participants.

Following the successful trial of Nokia's WPON solution, XL Axiata now plans to leverage the fixed wireless access technology to bring new ultra-broadband services to other residential areas located in major Indonesian cities at competitive rates.

Yessie D. Yosetya, Director Technology, XL Axiata, said, "Nokia's WPON solution is a perfect answer for our requirements pulling fiber further than ever before while ensuring that every subscriber enjoys high speed Internet and TV services. The solution promises to make available affordable broadband services beyond the reach of our fiber network, improve digital literacy as well as support the small and medium-sized enterprises."

Robert Cattanach, head of Indonesia at Nokia, said, "We're excited to collaborate with XL Axiata to provide the first Wireless PON service trial in Indonesia and in the Asia Pacific and Japan region. Our WPON solution will help reduce costs and quickly deliver high speed broadband access to XL Axiata's residential areas. It provides the much needed flexibility on the last mile connectivity, allowing us to create a high-performance network for XL Axiata."