Nokia, Infracapital to bring high-speed fiber broadband service

NEW DELHI: Nokia and Infracapital, the infrastructure arm of M&G Investments, have won a tender from the government of Poland to design, build and operate advanced fiber optic networks to deliver broadband service to residences and schools in 12 under-served regions mostly in the northern and central parts of the country.

The companies expect to sign an agreement for a 13th region in July.

These networks, based on Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) technology, will deliver speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) to more than 400 000 homes and approximately 2 500 schools in the largely rural voivodships (or provinces) of Lodzkie, Swietokrzyskie, Kujawsko-Pomorskie and Warminsko-Mazurskie. Capital expenditure for the project is expected to be approximately €300 million.

The networks will be built and operated as wholesale open access networks, with services to be marketed and delivered by retail service providers.

This transformational initiative has been driven by Poland's Ministry of Digitalization and subsidized in part by grants from the EU under its EU Digital Agenda 2020 program. This program targets the delivery of fast broadband services with download speeds of at least 30 Mbps to all EU citizens, and at least 100 Mbps to 50 percent of EU citizens, by 2020.

Beginning in 2018, these under-served regions of Poland will benefit from a high-speed, high-quality and resilient fiber network that can deliver ultra-broadband services that will help to better connect schools, provide e-health and digital services and deliver socio-economic benefits, as well as supporting residential triple-play services such as HD video streaming, 4K TV, and real-time gaming.

In addition to the broadband network infrastructure, Nokia will provide a variety of professional and maintenance services. Nokia is responsible for the project management, planning, design and deployment of both the broadband and passive fiber optic network. Nokia, with its experience and expertise with outside plant networks, will manage the overall delivery of the passive fiber network rollout up to connecting the schools and homes to the network.

This project builds on Nokia's strong track-record supporting government-driven broadband initiatives to both national and regional governments worldwide. It also highlights the progress of Nokia's strategy of expanding its customer base outside of the traditional telecommunications sphere, a key focus of the company.

Osvaldo di Campli, head of Global Enterprise & Public Sector at Nokia, said: "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. We are proud to play an important role in bridging the digital gap."