PRESS RELEASE: ZTE Corporation has announced that Gui Bin, Chief Engineer of Optical Access Product Planning at ZTE, has shared the Company’s thoughts and suggestions on improving ROI in 50G PON deployment.The insights were presented under the theme “50G PON Evolution and Coverage Scenarios” at the online “Next-Gen PON Digital Symposium” hosted by Light Reading.

In terms of application scenarios, Mr. Gui envisions that 50G PON will enter the commercial deployment stage in 2025, starting with ToB scenarios and expanding to ToH scenarios. The combination of 50G PON and FTTR-B will cater to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) like hotels, street stores, and coffee shops, ensuring a quality user experience. Additionally, 50G PON will facilitate 10G all-optical access for campuses and enterprises in development zones, industrial parks, and factories, meeting demands for low latency and jitter. In terms of home scenarios, 50G PON + FTTR will provide ultra-high bandwidth for applications such as smart homes, online education, gaming, VR, and live streaming. Furthermore, 50G PON’s high bandwidth, low latency, and low jitter capabilities make it suitable for mobile backhaul and indoor coverage requirements.

In terms of network evolution, ZTE recommends the Combo PON concept for a smooth transition from existing PON to 50G PON. This concept enables GPON, XG(S)-PON, and 50G PON to coexist on a single platform and line card, tripling the equipment life cycle and saving network construction investments. ZTE took the industry lead by releasing the 50G PON&10G PON&GPON Combo solution at Mobile World Congress 2023. Moreover, ZTE pioneered the application of the Combo concept to the upgrade from 10G PON to 50G PON. This upgrade approach requires OLTs to be built only once, allowing for the deployment and seamless evolution of GPON, 10G PON, and 50G PON ONUs on the same backbone fiber as per demand. Notably, this upgrade mode saves costs associated with equipment room, equipment, maintenance, and network upgrades since OLTs and ODNs do not require changes, ensuring no disruption to existing GPON and 10G PON users and services.

Additionally, ZTE holds the distinction of being the industry’s first to introduce precision 50G PON technology. This technology enables support for multi-service scenarios by providing deterministic control over bandwidth, latency, and jitter. ZTE unveiled the world’s inaugural precision 50G PON prototype at Mobile World Congress 2022 and launched the world’s first 50G PON+Wi-Fi 7 ONU prototype at the FTTH Conference 2022. These advancements have significantly accelerated the exploration of application scenarios for 50G PON, the integration of multiple technologies, and the overall maturity of the 50G PON industry chain.

Being a frontrunner in fixed network technologies, ZTE has consistently pursued innovation in 50G PON technologies and practices, drawing on its extensive experience in FTTx development and deep understanding of future PON technology trends. Thus far, ZTE has engaged in extensive collaboration with over 20 operators worldwide, encompassing demonstrations, tests, and trials of 50G PON. Moving forward, ZTE will continue to drive technological advancements, foster deeper partnerships in the 50G PON domain, conduct thorough feasibility and maturity assessments in diverse application scenarios, explore additional use cases, and accelerate the progress of the 50G PON industry chain.