A North America First: Dallas-Based Frontier Demonstrates 100G Broadband Network Speeds

Some things are better faster—like sports cars, dentist visits, and especially home broadband speeds. This week, Dallas-based Frontier Communications announced it had raised the bar for the latter by becoming the first company in North America to demonstrate 100G broadband network speeds.

Frontier—which relocated its HQ to Dallas last year from Norwalk, Connecticut, bringing 3,000 jobs—achieved the feat by partnering with Nokia to successfully trial record-breaking broadband speeds of 100G, 50G, 25G, and 10G Passive Optical Networks (PON) technologies simultaneously, all on Frontier’s existing network.

The companies achieved the speeds on a stretch of 20-year-old fiber in Lewisville, according to Fierce Network, with operations monitored at Frontier’s fiber innovation lab.

Currently, Frontier’s network supports 10G and 25G fiber speeds to homes and businesses. The company said Nokia’s Lightspan MF Fiber PON platform enables it to deliver “unprecedented speeds well into the future” enabled by 100G PON. When combined with Frontier’s quad band coexistence technology, the company says it will have the ability to deliver “multiple broadband speeds on a signal strand of fiber, at scale across our entire network.”

Eyeing future demand for ever faster broadband speeds

Veronica Bloodworth

“We’re proud to partner with Nokia to lead the industry in successfully trialing ultra-fast speeds enabled by 100G PON technology,” Veronica Bloodworth, EVP and chief network officer at Frontier, said in a statement. “As demand for faster broadband continues to grow, we’ve demonstrated our ability to achieve these speeds using our existing fiber network.”

“This trial reinforces our commitment to operational excellence and features the advanced technology created by our Fiber Innovation Labs team, who are always pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for our network and our customers,” she added.

Sandy Motley, president of fixed networks at Nokia, called the trial “a game-changer for operators seeking new ways to meet evolving business needs without major network upgrades.”

“Our fiber technology, combined with Frontier’s unique coexistence solution, opens the door to a full range of PON technologies available on the same platform and fiber. This includes 10/25G PON today and 50/100G PON moving forward,” Motley added. “This means operators can select the right mix of technologies based on their needs and business case.”