China's MIIT planning 10G optical trials this yearChina's MIIT planning 10G optical trials this year

China is pushing ahead with its plan to further upgrade its optical networks, already among the world's most advanced. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is calling for nationwide 10G optical trials this year, describing it as an important part of the national "new information infrastructure" strategy and an evolution in optical networks.

"Promoting the development of 10G optical networks plays an important supporting role in stimulating effective investment, improving user experience, promoting new information consumption, promoting new industrialization, and assisting the digital transformation of the economy and society," the MIIT said in a notice posted to its website on Tuesday. 

It is the latest step in the industry ministry's efforts to coax 10G into commercial service. The technology has been identified in government and party documents as a priority technology over the next five to ten years.

The MIIT said applications including cloud gaming, XR/Metaverse, and high-precision industrial services were creating the demand for "larger bandwidth, lower latency, and higher reliability on optical networks."

Little appetite

Yet while it claims "an urgent need" to accelerate the development of gigabit optical, the reality is there is little sign either consumers or operators have an appetite for higher bandwidth.

That is especially true in consumer broadband. Around 80% of Chinese homes are passed by optical networks, but the three operators last year reported take-up of gigabit services of between just 20% and 34%. Additionally, the telcos are still awaiting return on their 5G investments and are currently being directed to focus on rolling out cloud, optical and data center infrastructure for the AI revolution.

The MIIT notice directs the 10G pilot networks to be built for three separate scenarios – residential, factory and industrial parks. Each of these are to deploy 50G-PON access ports, FTTH/FTTR solutions that can enable 10G access, and WiFi 7.

In industrial parks, operators should deploy edge computing and, if possible, OTN nodes. They should explore 10G-AI integration and also verify capabilities such as lossless transmission, synaesthesia integration and model training, MIIT said.

In the consumer trials, the networks must support up to 5Gbit/s in bandwidth, WiFi 7, ultra-HD video and cloud storage and games. Evaluation of the trials will begin after they have completed at the year's end.