Nokia, Orange France trial optical network tomography

Nokia and Orange France have completed a live trial of network tomography on Orange France's optical transport network, which they described as the first live service provider trial of its kind worldwide.

The work focused on improving visibility across a live optical network as telecoms operators face rising traffic demands linked to artificial intelligence services. Network tomography is intended to give engineers a broader view of conditions across fibre links and wavelengths without installing additional probes throughout the network.

According to Nokia, the system uses data from coherent optical transmissions and processes thousands of inputs to provide near real-time insight into the condition of network links. The goal is to help operators detect faults and performance issues earlier than with conventional point measurements and manual investigations.

During the trial, the technology identified fibre degradation, amplifier problems, configuration errors and other conditions that could affect service performance, the companies said. Earlier detection can help operators validate network conditions more quickly and respond before service level agreements are affected.

The project also tested whether operators could make better use of existing network capacity by gaining a more precise view of each optical link. Better information on network conditions can help improve spectral efficiency and support more resilient transport services.

Operational shift

The trial points to a wider change in how transport networks are managed. Telecoms groups are under pressure to automate more of their operations as traffic patterns become less predictable and infrastructure grows more complex, especially as AI workloads place heavier demands on network capacity and reliability.

According to Nokia, the system relies on equipment already installed in the network, removing the need for new intrusive hardware or additional field interventions. That approach may appeal to operators looking to monitor ageing and expanding fibre estates without adding significant operational overhead.

Orange France, one of the largest telecoms operators in its home market, has been investing in fixed and mobile network upgrades while managing the operational demands of a large fibre footprint. Optical transport networks are a critical part of that infrastructure because they carry traffic between core, metro and access layers.

For vendors such as Nokia, observability tools for optical networks are becoming more prominent as operators seek software-led methods to improve utilisation and fault detection. The use of Bell Labs algorithms in the trial reflects a broader push by equipment makers to apply analytics and automation to transport infrastructure rather than relying solely on hardware upgrades.

Both companies cited the trial as a step towards more automated network operations.

"As network performance requirements become more stringent, operators need deeper visibility into the performance and condition of their transport infrastructures. With this successful trial, Orange is taking an important step toward the future of network operations. By using smart automation technology, we can better optimize the network and deliver more resilient services to our customers," said Christian Gacon, Vice President, Broadband Networks at Orange France.

Nokia said the findings also support work towards AI-assisted operations and closed-loop automation in optical networks, where systems can identify problems and trigger corrective actions with less human intervention. Such approaches remain a long-term objective for many operators, but trials like this provide a practical test of how monitoring and analytics tools perform on live infrastructure.

The broader industry challenge is that optical faults are often difficult to isolate quickly because they may emerge gradually and affect multiple layers of service delivery. Tools that infer the condition of links from existing transmission data could help reduce the time spent on manual troubleshooting and improve planning for maintenance and upgrades.

That matters as telecoms groups try to extract more value from installed assets before committing to large-scale infrastructure expansion. Better visibility into the health of network links can support decisions on where capacity is genuinely constrained and where performance can be improved through configuration or operational changes.

Nokia described the trial as a notable change in how operators can observe optical infrastructure.

"For many years, operators have had to rely on point measurements and manual investigations to understand what is happening inside their optical networks. This trial is an important milestone because it gives operators near-real-time visibility across optical links, helping them detect degradation, configuration issues and performance problems much earlier. Network tomography brings a new level of observability to optical infrastructure, helping operators simplify operations, make better use of existing network assets and prepare for the shift toward AI-native networks," said Guil Yazdi, VP, Client Executive, Orange at Nokia.