AirPON Enables Extensive Broadband Coverage for Building New Digital Rural Areas

[Beijing, China, May 17, 2021] In May 2021, Huawei's gigabit optical network solution won the "Leading Commercial Use of All-Optical Networks" award. The AirPON solution realized extensive broadband coverage, true gigabit at home, premium private line 2.0, and all-optical base for smart cities. It provides premium service experience in broadband and private lines for thousands of households and industries.

According to government policies of China, digitization has become one of the important breakthroughs in promoting rural development. However, when constructing network infrastructure such as gigabit optical networks in rural areas, operators face great challenges. In the traditional mode, centralized OLTs need to be deployed in aggregation equipment rooms, and a long-distance (5–10 km) ODN networks need to be constructed to cover home broadband users. In addition, the network construction period is as long as half a year, operators need to make large-scale investments at the initial stage, and the network construction cost is high.

Huawei has launched the AirPON E2E solution. By deploying outdoor integrated site OLTs and combining uneven splitters and the full-process pre-connected digital QuickODN solution, this solution helps operators achieve fast gigabit optical broadband coverage on demand in rural areas.

This solution provides the following benefits:

• Zero site acquisition by reusing mobile site resources and backhaul networks

In the traditional large CO mode, site preparation requires 10 persons and 6 months. Huawei provides the industry's first outdoor pole-mounted Blade OLT and M50 mini outdoor cabinet + Mini/Pizza OLT, which can share sites with wireless base stations. In this way, site resources, power supplies, and backhaul networks can be reused to realize quick deployment by two persons in one day.

• Zero fiber splicing and digital QuickODN E2E pre-connection

Traditional ODN installation requires 10 steps of serial construction, in which fiber splicing can be very difficult and requires professional tools. Huawei's digital QuickODN solution uses the full-process pre-connection technology between OLT sites and users, achieving zero fiber splicing. FATs can be installed in only three parallel steps, reducing the installation time from 90 minutes in traditional mode to 20 minutes.

The ODN digital capabilities are comprehensively upgraded. The industry's first optical iris technology is used to implement automatic ODN topology restoration, ensure 100% resource accuracy, conduct remote automatic acceptance, and locate faults in minutes, greatly improving FTTH network O&M efficiency.

• Zero configuration, OLT/ONT plug-and-play

Zero-touch deployment (ZTD) of OLTs eliminates the need for onsite software commissioning and reduces labor costs by 60%. ONTs support zero-touch provisioning (ZTP) and are plug-and-play. ONTs do not depend on the resource management system (RMS) and support cloud-based authentication, eliminating the need for home visits. FTTH services such as OLT upstream service provisioning and user-side Internet access service test can be finished in one day.

To sum up, the Huawei AirPON solution realizes extensive broadband coverage, real gigabit at home, premium private line 2.0, and all-optical base for smart cities. Through technical breakthroughs, the solution upgrades home and industry gigabit optical networks, supports application mode innovation, flourishes the industry ecosystem, resolves coverage problems in rural areas, and provides an all-optical base to support sustainable network and service development. Huawei's gigabit optical network solution effectively promotes information consumption, facilitates digital transformation of the manufacturing industry, consolidates the new infrastructure foundation, and lays a solid foundation for industry digitalization, providing solid network support for high-quality economic and social development.