By Telecom Lead Team: The Telekom Austria Group announced that its domestic subsidiary
A1 will be the first network provider worldwide to connect customers using the
latest Vectoring technology.
The Telekom Austria Group plans to rollout this new technology
throughout its domestic A1 Giga-Network countrywide. As a first step, this
Vectoring technology will be launched in Korneuburg and, following this
preliminary test phase, the technology will be made available in all main
Austrian cities with a fiber-to-the-curb network (FTTC). In the second half of
2012, the company will introduce this latest-generation technology in the
remaining areas covered by the A1 Giga-Network.
Vectoring technology is expected to significantly accelerate
data transmission speeds throughout its Giga-Network. This technology will be
launched in association with Alcatel-Lucent. It offers a cost-effective way to
significantly boost network capacities over existing copper lines.
The technology helps meet the increasing subscriber need for broadband, while
achieving the government’s goal for universal broadband access outlined in the
EU Digital Agenda for Europe.
All European households should be provided with high-value
multimedia services which can only be achieved through broadband connections
with transmission speeds of at least 30 Mbit/s by 2020, according to the EU
guidelines.
To address these EU targets, considerable investments will have
to be made in the rollout of future-proof infrastructure. The Vectoring
technology enables by fully leveraging the still untapped potential of copper
lines, which most cases greatly exceeds demand.
“The still untapped potential of copper lines is incredibly impressive.
Since the late 1990s, when private households started to use modems for data
transmission, we have been able to reach a thousand fold increase in
transmission capacities of existing copper lines. We are currently facing a
dual challenge: on the one hand, we have to invest in the further rollout of
our high-performance fiber optic network going forward, and on the other, we
have to provide our customers with a full-coverage broadband network with
ever-increasing bandwidths starting from today,” said Walter Goldenits,
CTO, A1.
Based on this latest-generation Vectoring technology from Alcatel-Lucent,
driven by Bell-Labs research, A1 is able to achieve cost-effective performance
gains in the A1 network in real-time, with a short time-to-market and a fast return
on investment. As a result, the existing A1 copper network will now be able to
achieve data transmission speeds of up to 100 and 50 Mbit/s at distances of up
to 300 m and 800 m respectively.
“With the world’s first commercial launch of VDSL2 Vectoring technology,
Alcatel-Lucent has demonstrated once again its technology leadership. Based on
cutting-edge innovation from our research center Bell Labs, the VDSL2 Vectoring
technology marks a further important step in our efforts to get the utmost out
of the current network infrastructure and thus create real added value for
network operators such as A1 and their customers,” said Stephen Carter,
president, Europe Middle East and Africa for Alcatel-Lucent.
Recently,
Alcatel-Lucent announced that it is working with
Bechtel, a global engineering, construction and project management company, to
offer essential communications and security systems for the Chevron-operated
Wheatstone Project in Western Australia. The systems are expected to improve
operations and support the safety and security of the workforce during the
construction and operation of the plant, and provide leisure facilities for
employees living on the site.
