Telecom network operator BT and Alcatel-Lucent have achieved 5 gigabits per second speeds over copper broadband — in early experimental lab trials of G.fast technology.
The achievement of high speed broadband indicates the future development of G.fast broadband technology known as XG.FAST. The results will prompt BT, a broadband player in the U.K. telecom market, to speed up G.fast technology roll outs.
Ultrafast broadband on G.fast, which has been pioneered by BT and telecom industry partners since 2007, can be delivered without the disruption and expense of laying fiber to premises.
Openreach, BT’s local access network business, is using G.fast technology to deliver ultrafast speeds to 10 million premises by the end of 2020, and to most of the UK by 2025.
Huge interest in the @bt_uk G.fast demos on the BT stand @BBWorldForum today! #BBWF2015 #GFast pic.twitter.com/5dl85sNEaW
— Ben Agnew (@Agnewbc) October 20, 2015
BT aims to utilize G.fast technology, which will forms Openreach’s ultrafast product range, to include ultrafast Fibre to the Premises technology in certain areas. This apart, G.fast will support dedicated business lines which are available throughout the UK delivering speeds of up to 100Gbps.
BT is trialling G.fast in Huntingdon and Gosforth — receiving speeds of up to 330Mbps downstream, more than ten times the current UK average. Openreach aims to start deploying G.fast in 2016-17 alongside its fibre-to-the-cabinet and fibre-to-the-premises services. The company expects speeds to rise to up to 500Mbps.
XG.FAST, a potential future development of the technology, is in the early stages of lab testing, but has exceeded expectations in trials at Adastral Park, BT’s global research and development campus in Suffolk, and Alcatel-Lucent’s labs in Antwerp.
It delivered aggregate speeds of 5.6Gbps over 35 metres of BT cable. The broadband technology also achieved
aggregate speeds of 1.8Gbps over 100 metres.
BT earlier announced plans to get ultrafast broadband to ten million premises by the end of 2020 and to most of the UK by 2025.
“G.fast is the ideal technology as it can be deployed at scale and speed, allowing as many people to benefit a soon as possible,” said Mike Galvin, managing director of Next Generation Access for BT’s Technology Service & Operations division.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
