Rostelecom Begins Field Testing of BULAT’s DWDM Equipment
Testing of the new equipment is underway both in laboratories and on live networks.
Building modern long-haul telecommunications lines requires large quantities of sophisticated equipment. For Russia, having a domestic hardware base is therefore essential to delivering major infrastructure projects.
DWDM (dense wavelength-division multiplexing) equipment is essentially a suite of fiber-optic systems for data transmission. It is designed for national and international telecommunications links, as well as for network access, aggregation and core layers with both simple and complex topologies. The technology enables multiple information channels to share a single pair of optical fibers, each operating simultaneously at a different wavelength. This means operators can substantially increase the capacity of an existing link simply by installing an additional transmitter and configuring it to use a new wavelength. One DWDM system can replace dozens of separate fiber pairs.
Meeting All Required Standards
BULAT’s equipment meets all applicable standards. In early October, it was added to the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade’s register of domestically manufactured industrial products, confirming its quality and the high level of production localization within Russia.
Rostelecom’s press office notes that BULAT designed the equipment with Russia’s geographic realities in mind. Infrastructure facilities, including data centers, are often located far apart.
“We have a forward contract with BULAT for the supply of DWDM systems. In effect, Rostelecom guarantees a stable market for the equipment, allowing the manufacturer to plan production capacity months or even years ahead and invest in expanding its production lines without risking a shortage of orders. For us, this means equipment at a fixed price with predictable delivery dates,” says Sergei Onianov, deputy president and chairman of Rostelecom’s management board.
A Complex Engineering Challenge
For the first time in Russia’s telecommunications industry, manufacturing this new equipment involved one of the most technically demanding components: a Class 6, 16-layer printed circuit board. It made the equipment more compact while maintaining high signal quality.
BULAT’s DWDM system is being tested both in laboratories and on operational networks. Production is based at two sites: the main facility is Rostelecom’s RTT plant in St. Petersburg, while additional manufacturing takes place at a partner company’s facilities.
Years of Steady Progress
Rostelecom has been working to advance Russian-made DWDM systems for several years. In 2021, the operator and T8, a Russian manufacturer, signed an agreement to develop DWDM solutions based on domestically produced electronic components. The project aimed to create equipment for long-haul telecommunications networks using Russian components. The following year, the companies reached an agreement on direct supplies of equipment, software and the necessary licenses.
In 2024, RTC-Service and Rostelecom conducted an experiment to replace individual components in foreign-made DWDM systems with equipment from T8. The trial showed that the Russian equipment was fully compatible with existing telecommunications infrastructure.
In April 2026, Russia’s national telecom operator successfully tested the Gorizont system from Russian manufacturer VPG LaserONE. The tests took place on an operational backbone network spanning more than 2,000 kilometers. The trials confirmed stable operation on 100-Gbps channels and compatibility with existing equipment.
The start of trial operation for BULAT’s DWDM system marks an important step in Russia’s effort to replace imported technology. Domestic manufacturers are now producing complete telecommunications systems built on their own component base, rather than supplying only individual components. In the coming years, demand for these systems is expected to come primarily from within Russia, including telecom operators, government agencies, industrial companies and data center owners.
