Fringe benefits: Will XG-FAST help with small cell backhaul?

AT&T and Verizon Communications will almost certainly be keeping a close eye on XG-FAST developments at Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs, following last week’s announcement that the lab has achieved speeds of 10 gigabits per second over a distance of 30 meters, using two bonded pairs of standard copper cable. The Bell Labs engineers also recorded symmetrical speeds of 1 Gbps over 70 meters on a single copper pair.
XG-FAST, an extension of the ITU’s G.fast standard, could be very compelling for the nation’s two largest telecom operators in their fixed broadband businesses. The ability to take fiber to the curb and use copper to bring high-speed Internet into the home could shave billions off the potential cost of delivering broadband services to customers.
For mobile operators, the relevance of XG-FAST remains to be seen. G.fast has the potential to backhaul metro cell traffic, if the nodes are located close to the small cells.
“The key challenge will be in having the G.fast node within approximately 250 meters of the metro cell in question,” said Keith Russell, senior marketing manager for Alcatel-Lucent’s fixed networks group. “The symmetrical 1Gigabit service outlined in our XG-FAST press release would limit the distance even further to 70 meters.”
But Russell does expect operators to consider G.fast for small cell backhaul.
“Just as they use their existing fiber and DSL assets today, any operator deploying G.fast will consider it for metro cell backhaul,” said Russell. “While wireless backhaul applications could exist, the real driver is for residential services over very short copper loops. Metro cell backhaul will likely be a welcome additional application in cases where the metro cell is in close proximity to the access node or where fiber can only be deployed nearly to the cell site.”
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