A1, Alcatel-Lucent achieve 1Gbps broadband speed on copper network

Alcatel-Lucent on Tuesday said A1 achieved 1Gbps broadband speed on copper telecom network.

The trial by A1, a subsidiary of Telekom Austria, was on a new technology from Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs.

The innovation is aimed at upgrading existing copper telecommunications networks into ultra-fast broadband access systems capable of delivering video, data and information at speeds of more than 1 gigabit per second (Gbps).

“Telekom Austria Group’s A1 was an early adopter of Alcatel-Lucent’s VDSL2 vectoring because we understand the value of upgrading our existing copper infrastructure to give our customers the best possible broadband service,” said Hans Pichler, CTO at Telekom Austria Group.

The success of the new trial is important for Alcatel-Lucent that seeks to reposition itself as a specialist in IP Networking and Ultra-broadband access.

Alcatel-Lucent has adapted Bell Labs vectoring techniques – already in commercial deployment in VDSL2 networks – to work with a new transmission technology called G.fast, which use a wide frequency band to achieve very high speeds on copper lines over very short distances.

“G.fast underlines the expertise Alcatel-Lucent brings to customers like Telekom Austria as they expand their footprint of ultra-broadband access coverage. The results show the potential of G.fast for service providers,” said Federico Guillen, leader, Business Line Fixed Access.

G.fast is intended for typical applications of 500 megabits per second (Mbps) speeds at 100 meters or less. In recent demonstrations and under laboratory conditions, Alcatel-Lucent achieved 1.3 Gbps over 70 meters, making G.fast a promising option for service providers to complement their fiber deployments.

Alcatel-Lucent said in April 2013 that it shipped its one millionth VDSL2 vectoring line.

Alcatel-Lucent’s VDSL2 vectoring technology, launched in late 2011, enables service providers to achieve downstream broadband speeds of 100 Mbps over existing copper connections at up to 400m.

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