Federico Guillén’s keynote at Broadband World Forum 2021

Usually when we hear speeches at an event like Broadband World Forum, we expect to see big numbers: greater speeds, higher power capacity, increasing revenue, more customers. But I want to start somewhere quite different. Our industry is no longer the geeky outsider it might once have been. By 2010, half the world's population was set to be made up of digital natives. What's more, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought technology into every space of human activity, from work to education to recreation to health. Increasingly today, networks are life. The question for our industry is: what are we going to do with this increasing relevance and importance? Nokia believes that we need to turn our attention to some of the biggest problems the world is currently facing: social exclusion, inequality, access to services. ICT can play an enormous role in helping to fix these problems. Our ability as an industry to improve things like environmental damage and climate change goes far beyond what's under our direct control. I'm calling on everyone in our industry to act together to help create a world in which we use our innovation power to ensure zero communities are excluded from broadband, in which zero people are left behind. Allow me to introduce you to Broadband Zero. Broadband Zero divides into four sections: Zero Left Behind is about connecting everyone and everything using fiber and fixed wireless solutions to connect every home and building; Zero Limits is all about technology and innovation to drive new use cases and business cases; Zero Touch focuses on automating and optimizing the network; and underneath all this is Zero Waste.

Let's start with Zero Limits. The graph shows steady progress from EPON to GPON and now 25G. For all the media interest, today's discussion isn't about 25G versus 50G — that's a red herring. The real topic is how to provide the solution customers need and do it fast. The beauty of 25G is that you already have it on your 10G network. Nokia's customers like Proximus, Openreach, Delta Fiber, KPN, and Telenet have been exploring the possibilities of deploying 10G and getting 25G. This works because the same multi-PON solution that allows you to introduce 10G in your GPON network also allows you to introduce 25G by inserting the corresponding optical modules. The result is a 25G solution that is backward compatible and future-ready. This year we conducted a trial on new PON technology with Vodafone that can deliver speeds up to 100 Gbps on a single wavelength — 10 times faster than the most advanced network available today. We aim to put the debate about 25G versus 50G to one side so you can concentrate on your customers' needs.

To say that home technology has been turbocharged by the pandemic would be an understatement. The pendulum will swing, and we'll see a return to the office, but long-term home working, entertainment, and education will increase from pre-COVID levels. Are we ready? At Broadband World Forum this year, Nokia is proud to launch our new Application Containers for service providers. This gives service providers the flexibility to install new applications directly on the CPE, just like installing apps on a smartphone. Imagine implementing deep packet inspection or a firewall on the CPE itself to hold an attack at entry, or traffic slicing to prioritize Wi‑Fi traffic. The Application Containers present a vast range of opportunities. We support them on premium devices like the Nokia ONT XS‑2426G‑B, Nokia 5G mmWave gateway 3.2, and Nokia Wi‑Fi Beacon 6. The Application Support Function allocates CPU and memory and creates the runtime environment. Service providers will have an app server — just like an app store — to host containers from expert third‑party developers like F‑Secure, Broadpeak, or Cloudflare. This is an exciting opportunity for service providers to win back a part of the services market now largely held by hyperscalers like Google, Amazon, and Apple.

You know the sound of my daughter drumming her fingernail while she waits the half second it takes to load a page reminds me that human impatience is still the biggest driver in our industry. Virtualization and moving capabilities to the cloud was a big step, but the next step was bringing the cloud closer to the user — inside the home or small office. The logical step is to bring the cloud even closer: the nano cloud is a sort of data center in the home where new applications, use cases, and functionality can be added. That's great for operators too because it opens further revenue streams. If networks are live, our industry has a responsibility to work with governments to ensure digital inclusion increases continually. Broadband access must be practical, not just theoretical. The value of 5G for fixed wireless access is clear. Using millimeter wave can be a game changer, especially in dense urban environments, because it brings great speeds and high capacity. Operators are interested in using mmWave from base stations as a capacity overlay on existing LTE grids, feeding subscribers close while freeing sub‑6 GHz for longer distances. However, mmWave brings challenges: weak signal, random direction, and obstacles like walls, windows, and people. Solving this requires a high‑gain antenna integrated into 5G FWA CPEs that can amplify weak signals, identify the strongest signal, and continuously optimize. Nokia has built such a device in indoor and outdoor versions and is trialling it now. It has a 360‑degree field of view, dynamically adapts to its environment, and is self‑installing, compact, and cost‑effective.

We can all agree that zero‑touch, fully autonomous networks are the future. Technology is everywhere, but not everyone is enthusiastic about managing it. Getting there is not easy. How do we deal with the millions of broadband connections already in the field? Nokia provides a phased transition path to SDN rather than a big bang, enabling operators to introduce our solution at their own pace and support specific use cases in multi‑vendor or multi‑technology environments. Intent‑based networking puts the customer before the network, evolves SLAs to service level autonomics, and puts operators in complete control of their SDN evolution. As an industry, we in ICT might feel pleased with our environmental record, but the European Commission says ICT is responsible for about 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions — equivalent to all air traffic. The vast majority comes from power consumption during use. Our Quillion chip helps slash power consumption by half compared to previous generations. We're also reducing packaging materials for efficient transportation and investigating biodegradable and recyclable packaging. We're stepping up design for recycling: our new Beacons have just four major components, easily taken apart, and 70% of parts can be recycled. These reductions are important, but our ambitions go farther. The European Commission also noted that our industry, including broadband, could help reduce global emissions overall by up to 15%. ICT can enable other sectors to reduce their own CO2, from smart agriculture to Industry 4.0, smart manufacturing, smart grids, and remote working. Digitalization can greatly lower fossil fuel consumption while improving living standards.

The environmental benefits of digitalization are greatest when there is innovative collaboration in creating tools and solutions. Nokia is enthusiastic about working with companies across ICT and other industries to develop use cases that contribute to zero waste of all resources. Technology has finally got a seat at the top table. Companies, governments, and individuals look to our industry to provide answers to the biggest challenges. Broadband Zero is a great way to sum up the contribution broadband can make, from bridging the digital divide to driving down CO2 emissions globally. We can do this by focusing on technology and innovation to create more efficient products and solutions, and by using the most advanced technologies to automate and optimize networks for the best footprint and performance. Absolute zero is a theoretical point, but Zero Left Behind, Zero Limits, Zero Touch, and Zero Waste are goals that, while challenging, are within reach. As a company, an industry, and a society, Nokia is excited and energized by that challenge, and I hope you are too.