Nokia and Italian wholesale fiber vendor FiberCop signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) centered around fiber sensing.

The agreement aims to explore fiber sensing for both network protection and environmental monitoring, aiming to turn the network into a distributed sensing system.

Fiber sensing analyzes the optical signal to detect, locate, and classify problems in operational contexts. It can also drive environmental monitoring services, detecting natural phenomena, and traffic leaks.

Nokia and FiberCop will focus on monitoring and predictive maintenance to spot anomalies, performance degradation, and potential outages before they occur. They will also work toward detecting external events and environmental conditions such as vibrations and movements, across the infrastructure network.

Testing will take place within controlled environments, specifically dedicated FiberCop laboratories and isolated fiber segments, to assess the performance, accuracy, and practical use cases of various technologies.

"This collaboration is an important step in the evolution of fiber infrastructures, which can become ever more intelligent and capable of providing new information that is useful for their management," FiberCorp CTO and COO Stefano Paggi noted. "The goal is to explore solutions that help strengthen network reliability and open up new application possibilities to support the economy."

Nokia highlighted the impact AI as a driver behind the collaboration, as well as its reliance on research and development work of its Nokia Bell Labs division.

"Networks no longer simply carry data; they also help operators understand what is happening in real time," John Harrington, EVP and head of Europe at Nokia, added. "By combining Nokia Bell Labs’ innovation with our AI-enabled fiber sensing, we can help FiberCop transform its fiber network into an intelligent monitoring platform that provides reliable infrastructure capable of sensing, understanding and acting in real time. Working together, we can support faster detection of network issues, enable new sensing-as-a-service applications, and create a more resilient network."

Rome-based FiberCop was originally formed in 2021 as a joint venture between TIM (Telecom Italia) and KKR Infrastructure. It would then become a fully independent entity in 2024 after KKR and a government-led consortium completed a $21.4 billion buyout of TIM's fixed network.

The vendor claims to have provided 28-million kilometers of fiber optics to operators to date, with ultra-broadband coverage exceeding 96% of active lines and reaching approximately 46% of national property units through fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) technology.