NBN Co is set to use Nokia customer premises equipment as part of the $750 million expansion and upgrade of its fixed wireless network.

The vendor said late Tuesday that it has been selected by NBN Co to supply 5G fixed wireless access mmWave customer premises equipment (CPE) under the program. Gpon Olt Switch

The CPE “supports high frequency mmWave bands, which are capable of gigabit speeds for premises within a 7km radius of a radio base station,” Nokia said, claiming that as a “world-first”.

NBN Co will use both cmWave and mmWave spectrum for the expansion of the fixed wireless network, which will be offered to 120,000 users that were previously in the satellite footprint.

The upgrade will also make the network capable of speeds in excess of 100Mbps.

Nokia said its equipment had a range of “up to 10km to meet NBN Co’s stringent throughput and capacity requirements.”

“The CPE comprises an outdoor unit installed on the roof of the premises and an indoor unit providing user interfaces for the customer, connecting to the outdoor receiver with a 2.5Gbps Power over Ethernet connection,” Nokia said.

NBN Co’s executive general manager for fixed wireless and satellite Jason Ashton said the network operator is “facing a step-change in demand for broadband in rural and regional areas, with an estimated 300 percent increase in demand for data on our fixed wireless network over the next 10 years.”

“Nokia’s 5G mmWave solution allows NBN Co to better utilise both our sub-6GHz and 5G mmWave spectrum allocations to vastly extend the range, speed and capacity of our existing fixed wireless network and improve the end user’s experience,” Ashton said.

switch “This antenna design will be a critical enabler for our fixed wireless upgrade program.”