Nokia Siemens Networks announces plans to prioritise wireline broadband access R&D investments

An enormous hunger for bandwidth is driving the fixed broadband access networks and will lead into a hundred-fold traffic growth until 2015. This development and the operators' need for revenue growth are driving Nokia Siemens Networks' investment in fiber-based next generation optical access (NGOA) technologies. At the same time the company plans to limit its investment into existing Gigabit Passive Optical Networks (GPON) due to the fact that the mass market roll out of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) is unlikely in the short term.

Nokia Siemens Networks plans to focus on DSL and next generation optical access (NGOA) technology and limit its investment in existing Gigabit Passive Optical Networks (GPON). In parallel NSN will develop next generation optical (NGOA) technologies aiming to take a leading role in the future FTTH market. Nokia Siemens Networks will also continue its fixed access investment in DSL by introducing new products addressing the increasing deployment of FTTC/B.

"Fiber is progressing closer to the home with the focus today on fiber-to-the-curb or building with last mile connectivity based on proven DSL technology," said Christoph Caselitz, Nokia Siemens Networks Chief Market Operations Officer. "Our view is that mass market roll out of fiber-to-the-home is unlikely in the short term due to regulatory uncertainty and the operator's business cases. This will be different with the NGOA technology, where we will target to take a leading role."