Nokia and MX Fiber Expand Gigabit Connectivity Across Southeast Mexico

Nokia NOK has announced the deployment of a new high-speed optical transport backbone network for MX Fiber, bringing powerful and reliable connectivity to Southeast Mexico, a region known for its large population but limited digital infrastructure. The advanced network is designed to provide a future-proof digital foundation, supporting economic revitalization and enabling modern services for communities, businesses and government projects.

Residents and enterprises across Chiapas, Tabasco and Quintana Roo, with coverage soon expanding to Campeche and Veracruz, will gain access to faster Internet, improved cloud services and enhanced support for data-intensive applications in areas that have long faced infrastructure gaps.

The 1,800 km network expansion, powered by Nokia’s Flex-Grid DWDM technology and 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS), delivers scalable capacities of 10G, 100G and 200G, connecting customers to state-of-the-art data centers, industrial parks and subsea transport hubs — the key enablers of commerce, mobility and digital inclusion. Nokia’s 1830 PSS ensures cost-efficient, high-performance service delivery, with the ability to upgrade seamlessly to 400G and 800G without service disruption.

Additionally, integrated dynamic network management and real-time performance monitoring via Optical Time-Domain Reflectometry (OTDR) provide MX Fiber customers with robust, reliable and future-ready connectivity.

Nokia Strengthens Optical Network

Nokia is witnessing healthy momentum in its focus areas of software and enterprise, which augurs well for the licensing business. It is poised to benefit from copper and fiber deployments of passive optical networking. It is the only global supplier that is offering O-RAN with commercial 5G Cloud-RAN networks. Nokia is focused on building a strong, scalable software business and expanding it to structurally attractive enterprise adjacencies. Nokia’s C-Band portfolio supports 5G standalone and non-standalone networks, cloud-based implementations and Open RAN products.

Nokia announced an expansion of its IP routing business into the data center market and highlighted that Apple Inc. AAPL was deploying its technology at its data centers. Apple is benefiting from strong growth in Services revenues. AAPL now has more than 1 billion paid subscribers across its Services portfolio.

On July 20, 2025, Nokia announced that it had been selected by AFR-IX Telecom to power the Medusa Submarine Cable System, a new subsea fiber-optic network linking the Atlantic coast, Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea. The open-access system will connect Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Egypt with high-capacity links to boost 5G deployment, cloud expansion and AI-driven bandwidth needs. Using Nokia’s 1830 GX Series platform and ICE7 coherent optics, Medusa will deliver tens of terabits per second per fiber pair, offering low-latency, energy-efficient and cost-effective connectivity to drive innovation and economic growth across the region.

Recently, Nokia reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter 2025 results, with both top and bottom lines missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company's top line increased year over year, primarily owing to growth in fixed networks and optical networks in the Network Infrastructure segment. Improvement in the Cloud and Network services also supported the top-line growth. However, weakness in the Mobile Networks reversed this trend.

Nokia operates in a highly competitive telecom equipment market. Its key rivals include Ericsson ERIC and Ubiquiti Inc. UI, both strong players in the industry.

Ericsson is a leading provider of communication networks, telecom services and support solutions. Ericsson continues to execute its strategy to become a leading mobile infrastructure provider and establish a focused enterprise business. ERIC’s patent licensing business continues to perform well on the back of a strong intellectual property rights (IPR) portfolio.

Ubiquiti offers a comprehensive portfolio of networking products and solutions for service providers and enterprises. Ubiquiti offers high-performance radios, antennas, software, communications protocols and management tools that are designed to deliver carrier and enterprise-class wireless broadband access and other services primarily in the unlicensed radio frequency spectrum. UI is benefiting from healthy order trends with a flexible and adaptable business model.

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