Eurofiber is gradually modernizing its entire Belgian backbone network. The existing hardware will be replaced by devices from Finnish Nokia.

Eurofiber claims to be the first fiber provider for the business market in Belgium to have a 400 Gigabit OTN (Optical Transport Networking) network with DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) technology. At the end of 2022, Eurofiber partnered with Nokia to gradually upgrade the hardware of their network.

“The advantage of such a DWDM network with OTN technology is that on the one hand it can be easily upgraded to 600 gigabits and more by adding hardware components,” explains Peter Joossens, who is responsible for the operationally active network at Eurofiber Belgium. Additional broadband services can also be activated via software over time.

First network ring already in operation

The first network ring is operational from today and runs between Brussels-South, Charleroi, Mons, Estaimpuis and Kortrijk and has a capacity of 400 gigabits. A second network ring will be completed later this month and will run between Brussels-South, Diegem, Leuven, Hasselt and Liège. That’s forty times more bandwidth than before.

With this upgrade, Eurofiber is meeting the growing demand from businesses for higher bandwidth, faster networks and an always-on connection. In addition, the technology used allows Eurofiber to offer both SMEs and large companies the most suitable capacity, in a flexible and “tailor-made” way, depending on their real needs.

Fully finished by 2024

The modernization of the Eurofiber network in Belgium is part of a broader Western European rollout that will also see the Eurofiber network in France, Germany and the Netherlands receive the same modernization.

Business traffic has increased tremendously since the pandemic. Not only companies should have the opportunity to support employees who work from home. Due to the increased transition to the cloud, companies have a greater need for higher bandwidths and stable connections. In addition, the expansion of 5G also requires higher bandwidth.

Hans Witdouck, CEO Eurofiber Belgium: “Our goal is to modernize the entire Belgian Eurofiber backbone network by the end of 2024. This nationwide coverage also immediately makes our network fully redundant, which is now more critical than ever for all types of businesses.” . .”