Openreach Launch 10Gbps OSA Mobile to Help Connect UK Mobile and WiFi Sites

Network provider Openreach (BT) has launched a new high speed Optical Spectrum Access (OSA) product called OSA Mobile. The new fibre optic data capacity link is designed to connect UK street furniture (lampposts, street cabinets, etc.) to support the rollout of 4G / 5G Small Cells and front haul applications for mobile operators, as well as public WiFi hotspots, CCTV and broadcast applications etc.

According to the related briefing, OSA Mobile is a “data transport solution primarily designed for CPs [Communications Providers] looking for flexibility when connecting multiple street furniture locations, such as street cabinets and lamp posts, to a central location in a BT Local Exchange using Openreach fibre. Each OSA Mobile wavelength is dependent on the CP supplying, installing, configuring, and maintaining the required network optics and client optics at the remote end of the OSA Mobile Spoke.”

Openreach has had products like this before, but they often had some caveats and were less capable. The new solution can deliver data capacity speeds of up to 10Gbps with a rugged (IP68) handoff – designed around a hub and spoke design to minimise rack space at the BT Exchange handoff.

OSA Mobile Diagram

The operator has actually been piloting this for a while at speeds of up to 25Gbps, but that level of performance isn’t currently available with the final product (i.e. expected to be introduced in “future releases, aligned to new vendor optics and CP demand“). A number of other features have also been held back due to similar reasons (e.g. CPRI-10 interface options [related to 25Gbps] and RO2 [Resilience Option 2] support).

Key OSA Mobile Features:

• A choice of three Hub types, supporting 12, 48 or 96 client ports.

• A choice of unfiltered, single-channel spokes at 1G and 10G capacity, offering traffic protocols of 1GE, 10GE, CPRI-7, CPRI-8.

• A choice of filtered, multi-channel spokes at 10G capacity, offering traffic protocols of 1GE, 10GE, CPRI-3, CPRI-7, CPRI-8.

• No Openreach active electronics are installed at the remote Spoke site.

• OSA Mobile uses single-fibre working (SFW) network fibre to facilitate optimum transport of timing signals.

Details on OSA Mobile pricing can be found here and communications providers with an interest will be able to place orders for this under the related Connectivity Services Contract (CSC) from 29th April 2026 (i.e. the date orders will start to be accepted). We should add that ADTRAN’s kit appears to be supporting the new service and the IP68 filter was a bespoke design commissioned with Corning.