TELECOMMS
Copper can be kingmaker
in race to the gigabit
With ever increasing demands for connectivity from the ‘always connected’ consumer, operators
are under increasing pressure to provide unlimited, ubiquitous, high quality bandwidth, and must
stay abreast of new technologies to ensure their networks can keep up with the challenging
demands, says Robin Mersh, chief executive of the Broadband Forum.
M
ore than a
century since it
formed part of the
earliest telephone
networks, copper
is again proving its mettle as a
revolutionary technology, this time
as Gfast.
New service opportunities
Gfast is the latest generation
of DSL technology, as
specified by the International
Telecommunication Union’s
Telecommunication
standardisation sector (ITU-T).
By building on the best aspects
of ADSL and VDSL, this new
generation technology promises
to cost effectively deliver
bandwidth intensive consumer
applications, such as 4K Ultra-
High-Definition (4K UHD)
and cloud based consumer
applications, to homes worldwide.
I t i s des ign ed to hel p
ope rators meet broa db a nd
target s by expa ndin g th e
foot pr i nt of exis ting fib re
n et wo r k s a n d p rov i d i n g g i ga b i t
b ro a d b a n d sp e e d s to co n su m e r s
w i t h g re ate r p e n et rat i o n .
Designed to support Fibre
to the Distribution Point (FTTdp)
deployments, which bring fibre
within 50m to 250m from the
customer’s premises, Gfast
operates over the final copper drop
wires between the fibre termination
at the Distribution Point Unit (DPU)
and the user – enabling users to
receive bitrates of up to 1Gbps.
DPUs will also be co-located with
street cabinets and in above and
below ground locations.
This dramatically improves
the per formance of digital
transmission over copper
telephone wires – presenting
operators with an alternative
to Fibre to the Home (FTTH)
deployments. Gfast can also be
thought of as an adjunct and a
stepping stone to FTTH. It will play
an increasingly important role for
residential, individual business
locations, home workers, business
and residential tenants of multi-
dwelling buildings.
Existing phone wiring now
stands alongside Ethernet and
Wi-Fi as an equal but unobtrusive
player in the gigabit home.
Market and operational
considerations
For a long time, FTTH was seen
as the ‘future-proofed’ solution,
providing rapid connection
speeds and increased bandwidth
over long distances. However,
in reality the installation and
operation costs of FTTH remain
far too expensive in many
distribution areas, meaning many
network operators strug gle to
implement viable FTTH business
models, especially in long
established networks.
As a result, practical and
economic difficulties of FTTH
deployment has given rise to
copper extending technologies
such as Gfast, with many
operators already looking to
deploy FTTdp networks using the
technology to enable ultrafast
broadband through existing
July 2017 | 29