This week, we attended the Nokia Fixed Networks (Broadband) team’s annual analyst meeting in Texas. The company was quite bullish about its progress with 25G Passive Optical Networks (PON) (more on this next). In light of its disclosure that it has shipped 192 million broadband devices, it shared its unique insights about its emerging, high-volume, multi-country manufacturing strategy in the age of tariffs and in response to sovereign manufacturing demands.
25G PON, 50G PON, mmWave, POL. Nokia highlighted its June 2025 OLT card introduction, which enables 16 ports of 25G PON; its prior generation supported only 8 ports. The company invited Hong Kong Broadband to this get-together, which showed that its service uses Nokia 25G PON speed-tests at 20Gbps both upstream and downstream (which roughly matches the HKBN 25G PON demonstration posted on LinkedIn). Additionally, the company reiterated that it has 11 50G PON demonstrations underway with its customers, as well. The company discussed how its Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) progress in S.E. Asia shipments are robust (beginning with a late 2024 order surge).
Manufacturing strategy. As a large, global broadband equipment supplier with exposure to every major geography, Nokia has a unique viewpoint on what it takes to compete. We were especially interested in its evolving manufacturing and supply chain strategy, which has undergone significant changes in recent years. The company used to have 83% of its manufacturing in China, but now has 36% in China, having relocated manufacturing to numerous other locations, including Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and others. The company is currently expecting to manufacture (or have its partners manufacture) in many of its served countries in the future due to tariffs and country-specific sovereign concerns that have emerged in recent years.
