BT and Alcatel-Lucent have commenced an extensive consumer trial of the ultra-broadband access G.fast technology in Gosforth in the north-east of England. The BT trial will cover up to 2000 homes in the area and will last for six to nine months. It follows a much smaller but very successful pilot conducted by BT in Cambridgeshire and Sansea, in August and June this year.
During the trial, G.fast will enable data speeds of up to 330 Mbps, delivered over copper infrastructure directly into premises for customers to experience much faster broadband speeds to access new services such as multiple simultaneous 4K TV channels, fast HD video downloads and streaming.
G.fast allows service providers to provide ultra-broadband Internet speeds in locations where deploying fiber-optic connectivity is difficult. The technology also eliminates the need to rewire entire buildings and homes, the most costly and time-consuming part of any fiber deployment.
Mike Galvin, MD Service, Strategy and Operations, BT
This is the largest trial of G.fast technology in the world today and extensive research by teams of experts at both BT and Alcatel- Lucent have prepared us well for this exploration into how the technology performs.
Cormac Whelan, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent UK & Ireland
The latest analyst predictions say that within five years, something like one million minutes of video content will cross the global fixed or mobile network every single second. The demand for broadband has never been greater and is only heading in one direction so this G.fast trial is the right technology at the right time.
