South African mobile operator MTN Group has deployed and tested the open optical packet transport platform Voyager, with indications that operators could now install a network at a lower cost.
The group, working with Telecom Infra Project (TIP), field-tested the Voyager next-generation technology in MTN data centres between 14th avenue, in Fairlands, and Soccer City, in Soweto, at the end of October.
MTN is part of the Open Optical Packet Transport project group within TIP, which was formed in February to enable collaboration on the development of new technologies and find “fresh approaches” to build and deploy telecoms network infrastructure.
The project aims to reduce costs and increase the speed of rolling out Internet connectivity, with MTN seeking the possibility of deploying 19 Tb/s of connectivity to the community using open optical networking technology.
The test results show the highest performance with zero packet or signal, loss, and the potential for significant overall cost savings, as it moves away from the vendors’ costly proprietary platforms.
“This means that the roll-out of the Voyager platform will enable operators to install a network at a lower cost, which, in turn, will result in cheaper connectivity for customers,” MTN group network technology officer Navi Naidoo said in a statement.
The next step is to obtain the necessary approvals and explore commercial roll-out of the platform, with the outcomes now being presented at the TIP Summit, currently under way in California, in the US.
“Voyager’s tests show that open and collaborative approaches can help increase the speed of network innovation and implementation, and represent an important step in the development of an open system that will increase the efficiency of fibre networks,” said Facebook engineering director Hans-Juergen Schmidtke.