Alcatel-Lucent said it is “moving the goal posts” by using a new technology called G.fast to extend high-speed broadband to buildings without taking fiber all the way to the end point. G.fast is a standard that improves the speed at which data can travel over copper wires. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) says G.fast can deliver speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second over existing telephone wires, within 250 meters of a distribution point. G.fast uses 106 Mhz of bandwidth vs. 17 Mhz for typical VDSL installations.
High-speed Internet access for residences is the initial focus of Alcatel-Lucent’s G.fast solution, which the company said will be available in the first quarter of 2015. G.fast also may be useful for small cell backhaul.
“If you want to put a small cell on every floor [of a building] you need backhaul to get to the basement where the fiber lives,” said Michael Weissman of Sckipio, a developer of G.fast modems. “With G.fast you bring fiber to the basement and use copper to get the data to the basement.”
Alcatel-Lucent is ranked by ABI as the world’s leading vendor of small-cell equipment, and the market for enterprise small cells is seen as one that is full of both opportunities and challenges. For now, the company is focusing on G.fast as a way to deliver superfast Internet to buildings that are not candidates for fiber.
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“Quite simply, G.fast moves the goalposts thanks to its ability to provide fiber-like broadband speeds,” said Federico Guillén, president of Alcatel-Lucent’s fixed networks group, in a statement. “The debate is no longer about copper versus fiber, as both technologies can provide what customers want.”
Alcatel-Lucent’s G.fast launch follows 12 trials with operators, including BT, Orange and A1, a subsidiary of Telekom Austria.
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