Verizon prepares its next-gen PON request for proposal

Verizon will publish its next-generation passive optical network (PON) requirements for equipment makers in the coming month.

Vincent O'Byrne

The NG-PON2 request for proposal (RFP) is being issued after the US operator completed a field test that showed a 40 gigabit NG-PON2 system working alongside Verizon’s existing GPON customer traffic.  

The field test involved installing a NG-PON2 optical line terminal (OLT) at a Verizon central office and linking it to a FiOS customer’s home 5 km away. A nearby business location was also included in the trial.

Cisco and PT Inovação, an IT and research company owned by Portugal Telecom, worked with Verizon on the trial and provided the NG-PON2 equipment. 

NG-PON2 is the follow-on development to XG-PON1, the 10 gigabit GPON standard. NG-PON2 supports both point-to-point links and a combination of time- and wavelength-division multiplexing that in effect supports a traditional time-division multiplexed PON per wavelength, known as TWDM-PON. The rates TWDM-PON supports include 10 gigabit symmetrical, 10 gigabit downstream and 2.5 gigabit upstream, and 2.5 gigabit symmetrical.

Verizon field-tested the transmission of NG-PON2 signals over a fibre already carrying GPON traffic to show that the two technologies can co-exist without interference, including Verizon’s analogue RF video signal. Another test demonstrated how, in the event of a OLT card fault at the central office, the customer’s optical network terminal (ONT) equipment can detect the fault and retune to a new wavelength, restoring the service within seconds.  

Now we know we can deploy this technology on the same fibre without interference and upgrade the customer when the market demands such speed 

Verizon is not saying when it will deploy the next-generation access technology. “We have not said as the technology has to become mature and the costs to reduce sufficiently,” says Vincent O'Byrne, director of access technology for Verizon. 

It will also be several years before such speeds are needed, he says. “But now we know we can deploy this technology on the same fibre without interference and upgrade the customer when the market demands such speed.”  

Verizon expects first NG-PON2 services will be for businesses, while residential customers will be offered the service once the technology is mature and cost-effective, says O’Byrne.

Vodafone is another operator conducting a TWDM-PON field trial based on four 10 gigabit wavelengths, using equipment from Alcatel-Lucent. Overall, Alcatel-Lucent says it has been involved in 16 customer TWDM-PON trials, half in Asia Pacific and the rest split between North America and EMEA.

Further reading

For an update on the NG-PON2 standard, click here