It is now Bouygues Telecom’s turn to switch to XGS-PON technology for wired connectivity. The operator has just announced, thanks to this fiber technology, “a speed of up to 8 Gbit/s” for some of its customers in downlink speed and 1Gbit/s in uplink speed.
The first eligible customers are located… in Paris, an ultra-dense area where the operator has the best chance of making this investment profitable.
The acronym XGS-PON stands for 10 Gigabit Symmetric Passive Optical Network. This technology goes beyond the performance of existing fiber optic technologies (GPON), with, according to the operator, on average a connection up to 4 times faster.
In France, SFR fired the first
The latest standard to date for passive optical networks, the XGS-PON therefore uses the “X” for “10” and adds an “S” for “symmetrical”. This standard is based on shared bandwidth with a theoretical speed of 10 Gb/s in both directions, in “download” and “upload”. The fiber is here shared by 64 subscribers as for the GPON technology.
In France, SFR was the first to launch a new XGS-PON compatible box in February 2022. Called 8X, it claims, as its name suggests, a reception speed of up to 8 Gb / s, while limiting the reception speed to 1 Gb / s.
Bouygues Telecom explains on the pricing side that this development of FttH technology will be billed €5/month in addition to the Box plan billed to each customer (Debit+ option of Bbox ultym offers).
Pay attention to the type of Box
Note for professionals that this option is also available for eligible Bbox Pro+ customers, at €4.17 excl. .
Still, access to this client-side technology is linked to the nature of their internet box. Because not all the boxes offered by Bouygues Telecom are compatible. Only the boxes “of the ultym offer are compatible with XGS-PON technology” specifies the operator.
In detail, Bouygues Telecom ensures that beyond subscribing to this option, you must “connect the supplied SFP3 module” (Small Form-Factor Pluggable, compact optical transceiver module) to the box, and “use the Ethernet port 10 Gbit/s of the Box predisposed for uses in XGS-PON”.
Orange tries XGS-PON… in Spain
After Paris, Bouygues Telecom assures that its investments should make it possible to offer XGS-PON “soon in several large cities” in France.
But on the innovation side with the XGS-PON, it is indeed SFR which is in the lead in France. In 2018, SFR had already tested this technology in Amiens, after a laboratory test phase.
But, to be eligible, SFR must change or install compatible equipment in the NRO (optical connection node). This is why, month after month, since the start of 2022, new municipalities have been eligible for fiber up to 8 Gb/s from SFR.
At the end of 2022, 7,293 municipalities were connected to this XGS-PON fiber, i.e. 37% of municipalities eligible for SFR fiber.
Orange for its part has long stayed away from this technology, but has been deploying it since last year… in Spain.
This race for speed remains above all a marketing argument in the war between the four national operators. If the XGS-PON prepares future uses, which are particularly bandwidth-intensive, such as 8K television or virtual reality and augmented reality applications in the metaverses, current needs are covered for all fiber offers.