Is 50G-PON the Future of Fiber Broadband, or Will Exorbitant Costs and a Lack of Demand Sink the Technology?

With 10-Gigabit Symmetric-Passive Optical Network (XGS-PON) equipment undergoing widespread adoption in fiber broadband networks worldwide, the industry is naturally begging to search for the next leap in PON technology. 50G-PON, with its ability to deliver throughputs 5X that of XGS-PON, has been heralded by some as representing this leap. However, high infrastructure costs and a dearth of clear use cases for these new speeds have made others cautious. In this ABI Insight, we will analyze the current state of the 50G-PON ecosystem, examining vendor market dynamics and the success of early technology pilots. We will then take stock of 50G-PON’s challenges and assess how much of a hindrance they will pose to the technology’s adoption. Finally, we will end with some actionable recommendations for how the industry should grapple with this innovative but immature new technology.

Mainland China is the undisputed flagbearer of 50G-PON, spurred by the cutthroat competition between the market’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and state directives and financial incentives aimed at spurring domestic innovation. It was the country’s preeminent telecommunications infrastructure supplier, Huawei, which unveiled the world’s first 50G-PON prototype in 2019. Since then, the company has consistently been at the forefront of the technology’s Research and Development (R&D). ZTE has been equally as active in spearheading 50G-PON R&D as has the Mainland Chinese ISP China Telecom, which has pinned its hopes on the technology in a last-ditch attempt to claw back market share from its more successful competitors, China Mobile and China Unicom (this dynamic is explored in depth in a previous ABI Insight, “Chinese Broadband Market Divergence Grows as Unique Innovations Take Root”).

China Telecom’s heavy investments into 50G-PON led it to become one of the original initiators of the 50G-PON standard within the International Telecommunications Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) in 2016. This enabled it to launch the world’s first live 50G-PON network in 1Q 2024, which connected thousands of users throughout Shanghai’s Yangpu district using Huawei equipment. More recently, in 3Q 2025, China Mobile launched a 50G-PON-based residential community in China’s Jiangsu province, which leveraged ZTE equipment. Yet 50G-PON innovation and gradual commercialization are not restricted to Mainland China. Other vendors involved in the technology’s development include Nokia from Finland, Adtran and Calix from the United States, and major 50G-PON trials and pilots have also been conducted worldwide.

The first 50G-PON trial in the United States over a live fiber broadband network was conducted by Google Fiber using Nokia equipment in July 2024, which was subsequently followed by the trialing of 50G-PON by ISP Brightspeed with Calix equipment. 50G-PON is also experiencing strong interest across Europe. The first 50G-PON pilot on the continent was conducted in Turkey by the country’s largest ISP, Türk Telekom, and ZTE in November 2024.

Since then, numerous 50G-PON tests have been completed across the European Union (EU), with Orange in France, Magyar Telekom in Hungary, and Swisscom in Switzerland all conducting trials with Huawei infrastructure. In 4Q 2024, Cypriot ISP Cyta became the first in the EU to introduce a commercial 50G-PON service, with Cyprus’ Research & Innovation Foundation becoming the first user. Meanwhile, the bloc’s renegade neighbor, the United Kingdom, is emerging as a 50G-PON trailblazer in the region, with a rapid succession of 50G-PON pilots being conducted over the past 6 months. 1Q 2025 saw Openreach and Nokia announce the first live test of 50G-PON equipment at a U.K. residential property, which was quickly followed by a 50G-PON trial in a live business customer environment by fiber network infrastructure provider ITS, and the deployment by altnet (alternative network ISP) Netomnia of Adtran’s SDX 6400 Series equipment in the country’s first 50G PON service.

50G-PON trials have also been undertaken in the Middle East (by The Saudi Telecom Company in Saudi Arabia and Omantel in Oman), and in Southeast Asia (including the Philippines’ ISP Globe Telecom in 1Q 2025).

Despite this flurry of recent 50G-PON activity, the 50G-PON is still far from widespread commercialization. The technology is still prohibitively expensive for most ISPs to consider, with the cost for a single 50G-PON Optical Network Unit (ONU) standing around US$2,000, roughly 20X that of an ONU supporting the current mainstream PON technology, XGS-PON. Aside from the sheer cost, there is also a lack of a clear business use case for 50G-PON, with few consumer applications demanding 50G-PON connections in residential environments at present. That said, the diversity of the 50G-PON supplier ecosystem is a testament to the faith that many vendors have in the prospects of the technology, and should allay any customer concerns that the technology is too closely tied to the fate of a limited number of companies (as is the case for Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 4.0), or that they would be dependent on only a select number of suppliers.

Such competitive market dynamics should also help to drive down 50G-PON hardware prices once deployments begin to scale up, reducing the cost barrier to the technology over time. Many predict that 50G-PON costs will drop considerably once installations in Mainland China begin to ramp up, with 2027 projected to be the year when the technology starts to see large-scale deployments in the country. In Western Europe and North America, significant 50G-PON deployments are expected to commence toward the end of the decade, by which time we could see the cost of a 50G-PON ONU being less than double that of an XGS-PON ONU.

There is also the question of where 25G-PON fits into the picture. While the Mainland Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE dismiss 25G-PON as an inferior technology to 50G-PON, which is unable to satisfy the demands of next-generation networks, there are other vendors, including Nokia, that believe that 25G-PON is the next logical step after XGS-PON. Proponents of 25G-PON highlight that, whereas 50G-PON migrations require major upgrades across the entire network, including the replacement of optical components and Optical Line Terminal (OLT) platforms, 25G-PON can leverage much of the same hardware used in existing GPON and XGS-PON networks, making the technology considerably more cost-effective and both quicker and simpler to deploy. They also note that while 25G-PON solutions offer symmetrical (i.e., upstream and downstream) 25 Gigabits per Second (Gbps) throughputs, many current 50G-PON solutions are asymmetrical, achieving 50 Gbps downstream, but limited to 25 Gbps upstream. This may render 50G-PON unsuitable for many enterprise deployments, which prioritize upstream performance as much or even more than downstream performance.

ABI Research recommends that ISPs consider the following when considering 50G-PON:

• Assess All Upgrade Options: ISPs should conduct a comprehensive analysis of all the available PON upgrade paths to identify the one best suited for their needs. As outlined above, it may make more business sense for some ISPs to opt for 25G-PON first, perhaps viewing the standard as an intermediary between their current technology and 50G-PON. The type of 50G-PON an ISP selects also depends on the profile of their subscriber base, with asymmetric 50G-PON potentially being sufficient in some cases, while symmetrical 50G-PON may be necessary in others. Timing is also key— ISPs may wish to delay 50G-PON upgrades to take advantage of more favorable prices, although they must also be wary of not losing their competitive edge.
• Evaluate Alternatives for Subscriber Value-Add: Migrating to 50G-PON will be capital-intensive and take many years to realize a Return on Investment (ROI). While this should not necessarily dissuade ISPs from the transition, other options exist to enhance customer experiences without such large outlays. This could include implementing value-added services over the home Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), deploying more advanced CPE or additional nodes throughout the home, or even bundling packages with entertainment subscriptions.
• Identify Prime Deployment Locations: There is currently insufficient demand for the vastly improved capacity of 50G-PON in many residential areas, so it may prove hard for an ISP to monetize and recoup their 50G-PON investments at these locations effectively. Instead, ABI Research suggests that ISPs prioritize enterprise environments that handle vast amounts of data and large Multi-Dwelling Units (MDUs) where numerous households live side by side for their 50G-PON investments. ISPs should also consider the spending power of the served area when deciding upon 50G-PON installation sites, as 50G-PON services will naturally be considerably more expensive for customers than legacy ones were. Finally, ISPs could strategically install 50G-PON at locations where competition is particularly fierce, as it may help them capture or retain customers.  
• Review 50G-PON as a 5G/6G Enabler: If the ISP also serves as a mobile telecommunications provider, then 50G-PON could serve as the high-throughput fiber backhaul connecting 5G/6G small cells, supporting the rollout of dense 5G and in the future 6G networks.
• Ensure the CPE Is Not a Bottleneck: There is no point investing in a cutting-edge 50G-PON broadband access network if the Wi-Fi CPE in the subscriber’s home cannot pass these new speeds onto the end consumer. Therefore, ISPs must include Wi-Fi CPE upgrades in any plans they make for 50G-PON networks. By the same token, ISPs should also consider whether they can extract further performance gains from their legacy network with more advanced CPE, potentially bringing significant improvements to in-home connectivity performance without major access network upgrades.
• Devise and Implement Long-Term Strategies: For maximum effectiveness and cost-efficiency, ISPs must take a long-term view when planning network upgrades and avoid being impulsive or indecisive. After completing a comprehensive evaluation, they must be unambiguous in deciding which vendor(s) they are partnering with, which technology they are deploying, and which segments of their network they are connecting. A clear plan of action will help streamline rollouts, bring clarity to subscribers and shareholders (if they exist), ensure that the equipment across their network is consistent and interoperable, and allow them to negotiate with suppliers in bulk.