TeliaSonera has completed a field trial of Huawei's G.fast technology, one that enables service providers to theoretically deliver up to 1 Gbps over existing copper loops.
The service provider conducted the G.fast technology on its network in Helsinki with live customers using various services.
One of the promises of G.fast and related fiber to the distribution point (FTTdp) technologies is that they can enable an incumbent telco like TeliaSonera to leverage the existing copper network to deliver higher speed fiber-like broadband in areas where it can't make a business case for fiber to the premises (FTTP).
"The technology to deliver ultra-high-speed broadband connections over old copper lines makes it possible for us to improve the experience for more customers faster and thus making the most of our copper network," said Isto Pasanen, head of Consumer Services in Networks at TeliaSonera, in a release.
Being a copper-based technology, G.fast is distance dependent. It can only achieve its advertised data rates of 1 Gbps over distances of 250 meters or shorter.
Regardless of its limitations, other incumbent telcos such as Deutsche Telekom are taking interest in G.fast and FTTdp. According to a report in German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche, the German telco plans to conduct field trials of G.fast broadband technology this year.
Bruno Jacobfeuerborn, director of Technology Telekom Deutschland GmbH and CTO of Deutsche Telekom, told Wirtschaftswoche that "Deutsche Telekom is actively involved in the standardization of the" G.fast "technique."
Efforts to standardize G.fast are gaining momentum. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) membership reached first-stage approval of the G.fast standard in December. ITU's G.fast effort has been coordinated with the Broadband Forum, which has begun developing a testing suite for G.fast systems via its FTTdp project.
For more:
- see the release
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