The Government of Kuwait has achieved upstream speeds of 10Gbps over a single fibre in lab tests of Nokia’s XGS-PON fibre technology. The trials pave the way for the government to offer enhanced speeds of 10Gbps symmetrical (from the current maximum of 1Gbps). The equipment vendor provided its 7360 Intelligent Services Access Manager (ISAM) FX and 7368 ISAM Optical Network Terminals for the trial. Federico Guillen, president of Nokia’s Fixed Networks Business Group, said: ‘We are honoured to help the government offer superior and innovative services to their customers. Our unique approach will enable the government to protect its investment by allowing it to upgrade from GPON to XGS-PON and to TWDM-PON by utilising the same access node.’
TeleGeography notes that Kuwaiti state watchdog and sole fixed line telephony operator the Ministry of Communications (MoC) offers GPON-based fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services to 16 areas of Kuwait via a network commissioned in 2005 and launched in 2006; the network is operated by the MoC’s ISP division Zajil Telecom (KEMS).