Traffic between hyperscale data centres and global network hubs is outpacing what most terrestrial infrastructure was built to carry. Telxius is rolling out Nokia's ICE-X 800G ZR/ZR+ coherent pluggable optics across its terrestrial transport networks in Europe, the United States and Latin America, adding bandwidth across existing fibre without proportional increases in power consumption or rack space.
The deployment uses IP-over-DWDM networking and is paired with Nokia's Transcend network automation suite, giving Telxius operators visibility, fault and performance monitoring, and coordinated service provisioning across its optical transport estate.
The terrestrial rollout follows a jointly announced industry-record demonstration over Telxius' BRUSA subsea cable, where the same ICE-X 800G ZR+ technology delivered 400Gb/s per wavelength across 5,600-plus kilometres. Moving from subsea trial to operational terrestrial deployment within the same programme gives Telxius a consistent optical platform across its more than 100,000-kilometre network.
"At Telxius, we are continuously upgrading our international network to deliver the high-capacity, resilient and energy-efficient connectivity our customers need across the world's main digital corridors," said Jesús María Rubio, Chief Technology and Information Officer at Telxius. "This deployment, together with the successful subsea trial on BRUSA, reinforces Telxius' position at the forefront of optical innovation."
Nokia frames the announcement in terms of the AI workload surge placing pressure on data centre interconnect and long-haul routes. Ron Johnson, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Optical Networks at Nokia, said the 800G ZR+ platform and network automation tools give Telxius the headroom to expand capacity as traffic patterns shift around large-scale AI inference and training.
Telxius operates subsea cable systems and terrestrial fibre spanning Europe and the Americas, connecting data centres and digital hubs for hyperscalers, carriers and enterprises. The company did not disclose which specific network corridors or capacity volumes are covered by the initial terrestrial rollout.
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