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New ITU 50Gb/s FTTH broadband standard to be finalised this year

FTTH standard set for end 2021

Millions of FTTH connections worldwide are enabled by Passive Optical Network (PON) technologies standardized by ITU. The next generation, known as ‘Higher Speed PON’, will support 50 Gbit/s per wavelength, up from the 10 Gbit/s of its predecessors. Development of Higher Speed PON began in 2018 and ITU aims to complete standards work by the end of 2021.

Higher Speed PON includes both single-channel 50 Gbit/s systems to succeed XG(S)-PON and multi-channel 50 Gbit/s systems to succeed NG-PON2 (40G PON, at 10Gbit/s per wavelength). 50G-PON offers bandwidth five times faster than 10G PON and will be essential in meeting the vastly increasing bandwidth demands of home and office users.

The new standard is the first to adopt Digital Signal Processing (DSP). “DSP provides so much advantage that 25G-bandwidth optics can be used to produce a 50G system,” explains Frank Effenberger, Rapporteur for ITU’s Related Working Group. “This improves the cost profile of the system because DSP shifts the difficulty from the optical domain, where it’s hard to cost reduce, to the digital domain where cost reduction is inevitable due to Moore’s Law.”

“A successful technology requires a coincidence of both technical feasibility and strong global market demand. We strongly believe that 50G PON will provide the right capacity, at the right price, and at the right time.”

Frank Effenberger

Rapporteur for ITU’s Related Working Group

The original Gigabit PON (G-PON) standard offered 2.4Gbps download and 1.2Gbps. Higher Speed PON is designed work with the same fibre plant as G-PON, XG(S)-PON and NG-PON2. However, some network components may need to be replaced in order to reach the highest speeds. However, being able to reuse existing investment in the optical distribution network is an attractive proposition for operators.

ITU G.9804.1, the first standard of the new G.9804 series (2019), served as a guide for the development of Higher Speed PON systems by defining requirements of envisioned applications.
 

ITU G.9804.2 (currently under approval) specifies the common transmission convergence layer for single-channel and multi-channel 50 Gbit/s systems.
 

ITU G.9804.3 defines the optical requirements and specifications of the 50 Gbit/s single-channel physical media dependent layer.

Watch Frank Effenberger, Rapporteur ITU-T Study Group 15, discuss the future of PON.

PON Technology Evolution Diagram
PON Technology Evolution Diagram