Baicells Technologies will make a foray into the fiber market with an optical line terminal (OLT) and optical network terminal (ONT) product set.
Until now, the vendor has mostly served LTE and 5G network operators. This new fiber portfolio will allow its wireless internet service providers (WISPs) and enterprise customers to build hybrid networks by integrating fiber with wireless infrastructure.
Baicells VP of Marketing Tony Eigen said the decision to enter the fiber domain makes sense from a technical standpoint for its customers, and could also help the vendor tap into funding across “a number of programs” that have a preference for fiber over wireless infrastructure.
The product family will include an OLT that can support XGS-PON, XG-PON, NG-PON2, GPON and EPON with uplink speeds to the network up to 100 Gbps. The OLT can be bundled with an ONT or connect other network elements like small cells and can be deployed in existing or greenfield environments.
Indoor and outdoor ONT devices for residential and enterprise applications will enable user-side access interfaces to support Wi-Fi, gigabit Ethernet, 10 gigabit ethernet, USB and voice.
To date, Baicells has around 500 WISPs using its equipment in the U.S., according to Eigen, and the fiber play could present an opportunity to expand its relationships with existing customers and build new ones.
“As customers continue to expand their wireless networks and as fiber gets deeper into the network or deeper to the edge, now we can be a single supplier to a lot of our existing customers,” Eigen told Fierce Telecom. “And it's a complementary fit in terms of how the networks are built with fiber at the edge and/or using fixed wireless for the last mile.”
Heading into 2024, Baicells is aiming to scale its focus “to do more in the enterprise,” he added, “not just limiting that to wireless but also, if there is a fiber play into the enterprise that we can capitalize on.”
The product launch comes just before an influx of fiber-focused funding is unlocked over the next several years. For example, the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program will unleash $42.5 billion toward broadband buildouts, most of which will likely be fiber.
Many broadband programs have stringent requirements, like the Build America, Buy America (BABA) rules that applies to all federal financial assistance.
Headquartered in Beijing, China, Baicells uses third-party contract manufacturers to build its wireless infrastructure – with one of its main suppliers based in Taiwan. Eigen said those manufacturers will also be responsible for the company’s fiber products, but that “some of the internals,” such as OLT and ONT chips, will come from U.S. vendors.
“We recognize the sensitivity, especially with some of these programs, to provision to Buy American. A lot of the technology within our fiber products also are from American vendors,” he added. “We'll do what we need to do to be eligible for those funding programs.”
Proof of concept testing for Baicells’ fiber products are already underway, with general availability tentatively expected at the end of this quarter.