Huawei announces 50G PON prototype

Huawei announced a single-wavelength 50G passive optical network (PON) prototype.

The new unit provides 50 Gbps downstream transmission rates and 25 Gbps/50 Gbps upstream transmission rates over a single wavelength.

Huawei's design is based on mature 25G optical components. It achieves 50 Gbps transmission rates over a single wavelength through fiber dispersion compensation and transmitter/receiver bandwidth compensation technologies on the physical PON links. Under the 1:64 split ratio, the prototype supports transmissions over 20 km, and enables customers to smoothly transition to 50G PON networks without needing to change the ODN of the live network. The prototype is also fully compatible with XG(S)-PON and 10G-EPON in the 50G PON wavelength planning. To protect operators' investment, 50G PON boards are designed so that they can be inserted and run in the Huawei new-generation smart distributed OLT MA5800.

In February 2018, the ITU-T officially initiated the 50G PON standards project and began developing technical solutions and standards. The standards are expected to be finalized in 2020 and put into commercial use in 2023.

Huawei notes that is a contributing member of the ITU-T and IEEE in 50G PON technology.