Alcatel-Lucent unveils 'G.fast solution' to help operators drive ultra-broadband access

12 customer trials - including those with A1 Telekom Austria and BT - demonstrate ability of G.fast to provide broadband services offering data speeds of up to 1 Gbps

Alcatel-Lucent is launching a new ultra-broadband G.fast solution – to become available in the first quarter of 2015. This will further extend the company’s comprehensive portfolio of very high-bandwidth fixed and wireless access technologies.

The new solution will allow operators to place fiber access closer to subscribers’ homes, providing them with even faster Internet services as demand continues to grow, driven by the explosion in data and video.

The commercial launch follows 12 trials with operators, including A1, a subsidiary of Telekom Austria, in which a regular subscriber was connected in order to independently test G.fast in the field. This trial comes a year after Alcatel-Lucent and A1 conducted the first laboratory trial of G.fast with vectoring where they achieved speeds of 1.1 gigabit-per-second (Gbps).

Other trials have included BT and Orange. Eight more operator trials have been confirmed before the end of the year.

Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO of A1 and Telekom Austria Group said: “We want to provide our customers with the best possible ultra-broadband speeds at home. We were the first to trial G.fast using vectoring technology with Alcatel-Lucent a little over a year ago and we are pleased to take the lead with them again by demonstrating the first customer connection using G.fast.”

Federico Guillén, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s Fixed Networks business said: “Quite simply, G.fast moves the goalposts thanks to its ability to provide fiber-like broadband speeds. The debate is no longer about copper versus fiber, as both technologies can provide what customers want. This means operators can expand their fiber footprints in the most efficient way, choosing between copper or fiber technologies for the final connection, to ensure no customer is left behind when it comes to getting ultra-broadband services.”

How fast is G.fast?

The new 7368 ISAM single-port G.fast Optical Network Terminal (ONT) accelerates the availability of fiber-like speeds without the need for operators to bring fiber all the way into the premises – the most costly and time consuming part of any fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) deployment.

Instead, fiber can be drawn close to the home and G.fast used to deliver speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) over the existing telephone line into the premises. Alcatel-Lucent’s G.fast ONT can also be deployed in a multiple-dwelling unit, with one ONT serving each household.

Customer trials use a multi-port G.fast solution using vectoring technology to eliminate the cross-talk interference that occurs when two or more copper lines are in close proximity, which adversely affects speeds. The multi-port G.fast solution will drive the evolution of Alcatel-Lucent’s VDSL2 micro-node portfolio.

Copper technologies like G.fast are crucial for enabling service providers to expand their fiber footprint and bring ultra-broadband services to as many customers as possible, as quickly as possible. Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs recently demonstrated the real-world possibility for XG-FAST technology – which extends the possibilities of copper even further. Laboratory trials saw symmetrical speeds of 1 gigabit per second over 70 meters of copper.