Nokia bows to Buy American rules with new US broadband plant

Nokia is teaming with longtime manufacturing partner Sanmina to bring production of fiber network electronics to Wisconsin, hoping the move will help it bring in the cheese when money starts flowing from the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. The decision will notably allow it to meet Buy American rules associated with the grant program, which require awardees to source materials with a high percentage of domestic content. Lori Adams, VP of Broadband Policy and Funding Strategy at Nokia, said it plans to build four products at Sanmina’s plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin: optical line termination (OLT) cards for modular access nodes, a small form-factor OLT, OLT optical modules and a hardened optical network terminal (ONT). Production is expected to begin in 2024, with products ready for shipment by the middle of 2024. The US Department of Commerce is in conversation with nearly a dozen other broadband vendors about bringing their manufacturing stateside.