INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cabling
Nokia and
Openserve
successfully
conduct
G.fast trial for
higher-speed
broadband
Daniel Jaeger, Head of Central,East and West Africa at Nokia
N
okia and Telkom South Africa's
wholesale division, Openserve,
have successfully conducted a
trial of G.fast technology in an office
complex in Pinelands, South Africa,
reaching fibre-like speeds over existing
copper infrastructure as deployed in
buildings. This trial is a dry-run for
Openserve's commercial deployment
of G.fast later this year, meaning it
will soon join the top 10 companies
worldwide deploying the technology,
part of its drive to rapidly expand its
footprint across South Africa.
The results of the trial demonstrated
an aggregate bandwidth (upstream
and downstream) of 900Mb/s on short
copper loops, and speeds of 500Mb/s
downstream and 250Mb/s upstream
on an existing copper line at a distance
of 150m.
Nokia's G.fast technology uses the last
few hundred metres of existing copper
located in a building to deliver ultra-
broadband access to customers, and it
will allow Openserve to meet demands
for fibre-like broadband speeds without
significantly increasing operational cost.
46
INTELLIGENTCIO
The built-in vectoring technology reduces
cross-talk interference between copper
lines, hence improving data speeds.
G.fast technology is increasingly being
used in areas that are cumbersome to
reach with fibre, allowing operators to
deploy fibre to the building instead of
each individual apartment unit – the
most expensive and time-consuming
part of a fibre-to-the-home deployment.
As G.fast uses existing copper lines, it
reduces disruption and lowers the barriers
with homeowners in multiple-dwelling
complexes and homeowner associations
for granting permissions to upgrade
infrastructure on their properties.
Openserve CEO Alphonzo Samuels
said: "We completed testing Nokia's
G.fast technology in our labs, and
are extremely pleased with the
results. G.fast provides us with a great
alternative in scenarios where the
length of the copper tail is 150m or
less. Moreover, the business case is
convincing. With G.fast, we have found a
way to maximise the usage of some of
our existing network infrastructure, while
avoiding any disruption or possible harm
to the aesthetics of the real estate.
Nokia is our long-term innovation
partner, and we take pride in continuing
down that path, bringing more high-
speed broadband services to citizens
and business customers in South Africa."
Daniel Jaeger, Head of Central, East and
West Africa at Nokia, said: "This is one
of the first G.fast trials worldwide, and
we are proud to be a part of it. Service
providers are grappling with different
technologies to meet the ever-growing
demand for high-speed Internet, and
this innovative solution allows them
to use existing infrastructure to cater
to market demand. G.fast offers the
unique combination of fibre-like speeds
with very limited additional investment
needed, low-hassle deployments, and
faster return on investment.'
Nokia is the industry leader in G.fast
technology with more than 40
individual customer trials completed
and 10 customers commercially
deploying around the world,
including Openreach, Chunghwa
Telecom, A1 Telekom Austria, Energia
Communications and Frontier. n
www.intelligentcio.com