China Mobile anticipates a total capital expenditure of roughly 25.3 billion dollars in 2020 — 1.4 billion dollars of which will be invested in 5G-related technology. In regard to 5G network construction, China Mobile will build 250,000 5G base stations in order to reach commercial operation in cities and the demand for 50G optical modules, which is expected to reach 500,000 (roughly calculated based on 2 optical modules per base station). However, this demand will at least double in amount if other state-run operators, namely China Telecom and China Unicom, also adopt 50G optical modules as their main solution for 5G midhaul and backhaul.

Faced with this market opportunity, ATOP officially launched the 50G QSFP28 ER optical module in virtue of its industry chain vertical integration and optical device packaging capability. The product has completed the sample test and will be able to reach mass shipment after August. Currently, this product is available for demo purposes and interested parties are welcome to contact us for more information.

ATOP’s 50G QSFP28 ER optical module adopts the standard QSFP28 package form and applies PAM4 modulation technology. The device solution is EML + APD. The transmission rate can reach up to 53.125Gbps and a transmission distance of 40 kilometres. The product can support commercial-grade operating temperature, and its indexes are compatible with IEEE 802.3 cn_50GBASE-ER standard. Despite its low power consumption, this product boasts high bandwidth. A 5G network architecture can benefit from its use for backhaul and midhaul, which meets the needs for high bandwidth and low costs of 5G carrying. At the same time, the 50G optical module can also be used for connection between NIC and ToR in hyperscale data centres.

Based on the needs of the 5G carrying network, ATOP strives to provide more 50G series products in the future, including 50G QSFP28 LR and 50G QSFP28 BIDI LR / ER. Stay tuned for the launch of this series of products in the third quarter of this year, which will provide customers with even more 5G midhaul and backhaul solutions.