Nokia and Infracapital to Build and Operate Fiber Optic Networks in Poland

While the majority of Western Europe has advanced network infrastructure to deliver broadband services, there are many regions in Eastern Europe that lack this capability. The northern and central parts of Poland are part of the latter group, with 12 underserved regions in the country. A new joint venture between Nokia (News - Alert) and Infracapital is going to address this problem by designing, deploying and operating a GPON fiber optic network in order to provide services to more than 400,000 residences and 2,500 schools in the 12 regions, plus one more region, bringing the total to 13.

Poland is now part of the European Union, and as part of the EU's Digital Agenda 2020 initiative it wants the country to have fast broadband services with download speeds of at least 30 Mbps and at least 100 Mbps to 50 percent by 2020. The EU wants these speeds for all of its citizens. Poland has its own program, which it calls Digital Poland 2014-2020 and is in part funded by the EU, with a cost of around €300 million.

According to Nokia, the fiber optic network is going to be built and operated as a wholesale open access network. The services will be marketed and delivered by retail service providers to the residents and schools in the 13 regions.

“For many years, Nokia has been a partner to government organizations like Poland's Ministry of Digitalization that are looking to deliver broadband connectivity to citizens regardless of their location. This exciting project with our partner, Infracapital, will help to ensure that everyone in Poland who wants a high-speed internet connection has access to that service,” said Osvaldo di Campli, head of Global Enterprise & Public Sector at Nokia.

The new services will begin in 2018 with a resilient optical fiber network capable of delivering ultra-broadband services connecting schools, providing e-health, digital services and benefits to these regions that will improve the socioeconomic conditions of the residents. The network infrastructure will also support next generation communications services as well as triple play, HD video streaming, 4K TV and real-time gaming.

Some of the Nokia technology that will be deployed includes the 7360 Intelligent Service Access Manager (ISAM) FX, the new Nokia 7362 ISAM DF small form factor fiber access platform, and the 7368 ISAM ONT. The infrastructure will be managed with the Nokia 5520 Access Management System for network management, and the Nokia Network Analyzer - Fiber operational support platform.

Nokia says it will be providing professional and maintenance services, as it is also responsible for the project management, planning, design and deployment of both the broadband and passive fiber optic networks.