news A senior Nokia executive this week said that “extraordinary innovation” is happening in copper broadband technology, in comments that will likely boost the case for the Government’s mixed technology policy on the NBN.
Speaking at the CommsDay Summit on 5 April, Ray Owen, Managing Director of Nokia Oceania (pictured), took the opportunity to discuss Nokia’s ongoing role in the NBN.
Spelling out that Nokia is NBN’s “original fixed network partner”, Owen said the firm is “very proud” of its work on the NBN, as well as the “national significance and international recognition” of the project. Nokia itself has had a relationship with the NBN, as well as though its recent acquisition of French company Alcatel-Lucent.
“We are firm believers in the national benefits,” he stated.
“I’d be stating the obvious to say this is a political minefield, but the fact of the matter is that NBN is following the predominant global deployment trend in its application of a flexible toolkit of access technologies,” said the MD.
The key, he continued, is flexibility in the choice of technologies and means of deployment “to suit market conditions and demands”.
Nokia calls this approach ‘fibre to the most economic point’. While that does include fibre to the premises (FTTP), it also recognises the “extraordinary innovation pathway now maturing in the copper network domain”, Owen said.
These innovations include technologies like VDSL Vectoring, G.Fast and XG-Fast, and deployment options like FTTN, FTTB and FTTdp (also called DPU).
In conjunction with Deutsche Telekom, Nokia recently demonstrated that XG-Fast, the “latest innovation” in the copper-based technology suite can provide a data throughput capability of more than 8Gbps over a 50m copper line.
This “fibre-like” speed is much faster than that currently experienced in the average residential broadband connection.
However, such capabilities are a “future consideration”, said Owen, “Right now we’re focused on delivering NBN’s present needs.”
He went on to announce that, following the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia will continue to support NBN’s VDSL2 Vectoring needs as it transitions to the full-scale mass deployment stage for its FTTN and FTTB deployments.
“We’ve already been providing these technologies, and this is a strong recognition of our strategic relationship over the last five years and the innovation pathway that Nokia can deliver for this project,” Owen said.
By adopting a flexible approach with leading edge technologies such as VDSL2 Vectoring and fiber, NBN is “extremely well placed” to meet its goals to deliver better broadband across Australia, he added.
“Nokia is uniquely equipped to put this project among the most advanced ultra-broadband networks in the world,” concluded Owen.
The issue of whether the NBN should roll out with its current mix of fibre and copper or should adhere to a full fibre policy has been much debated in recent days.
Mitch Fifeld, Federal Minister for Communications, has hit out several times at Labor over what he called its lack of policy on the NBN and the technology that best supports it. While Labor has previously advocated fibre to the premises (FTTP) for the NBN, Fifield suggested it might be about to “backflip” on its stance.
Additionally, independent telecommunications consultant Paul Budde recently called for Australians to do more to ensure the rollout a “future-proof” NBN.
This, he said in a blog post, would include a full-fibre network (including FTTdp) rather than the fibre and copper mix that is currently being promoted by government.
Image credit: Rakin, Creative Commons
Oh yes, I remember Nokia, they were that company that failed to keep up with newer technologies and lost nearly all their sales because of it.
Good to see they are continuing to support vintage tech. He should reminisce with Ziggy about Kodak failing due to their short sightedness too.
“He should reminisce with Ziggy about Kodak failing due to their short sightedness too.”
There’s money to be made, in garbage. Keywords: Hit and Run
Nokia is a strong company with interests in a variety of fields.
Some people don’t realise this and think they are only a mobile phone company which was sold to Microsoft last year.
I don’t doubt for a second there are improvements in the copper. I do doubt that they would ever match Fibre. In anycase, the copper here needs replacing so what is the point.
8Gbps @ 50m? that’ll be on a better guage of copper than we currently have in Aus, and at 50m you may as well just finish the last part up with fibre too then the home owner/renter can choose any future speed they may wish to.
Indeed… My thoughts as well.
Was going to say the same. 50m is the asterix with the idea, and what makes the story irrelevant. No rollout in the mix delivers a 50m copper loop as a standard, its either shorter, longer, or not applicable.
FttN MIGHT have a 50m loop if RNGesus is kind to you, but thats a very small core of properties – around 4 properties either side of the fridge-node. Hardly a selling point to install that tech.
Before alain comes along to spruik his idea of the day, the problem if they do is that once you get beyond that 50m the speeds fall off dramatically, as they do with every other DSL type rollout.
So what are the speeds at 100m? Or 200m? Or the 500m the nodes are expected to average at? They wont be 8 Gbps, and may be well under ADSL2 speeds.
“FttN MIGHT have a 50m loop if RNGesus is kind to you, but thats a very small core of properties – around 4 properties either side of the fridge-node. Hardly a selling point to install that tech.”
Not with an average length of 350m between nodes and pillars ;-)
So how many nodes would it take to have one every 8 houses across Australia?
But yeah, that was kinda the point. I thought it was 500m, but that may be the maximum. 350m as an average though means there are plenty of places with longer copper loops than that…
They didn’t do it on copper phone line. Some tests were 11Gb over CAT 6 and they got 8Gb over “standard drop cable”. It has to be HFC lead in cables they are referring to. I check for Bell white papers tonight, they are the ones doing it, not sure why every man and his dog is claiming “in conjunction with”
I came down to the comments to say the exact same thing…. Talking about lab testing as if it applies to the real world when it comes to copper…. Standard disingenuous bollocks from those with vested interests…
Cat6e, which is a shielded and very high quality cable, can just manage 2.5Gbps per pair over 50m (4 pairs per cable for 10Gbps) so I’d like to know what magical pixy dust this Nokia clown thinks he can use to get 8bps over a single pair of unshielded twisted wires at 50m?
Golly gosh. The CEO of a company supplying gear for the MTM FTTN supports the rollout.
It must be true.
“In conjunction with Deutsche Telekom, Nokia recently demonstrated that XG-Fast, the “latest innovation” in the copper-based technology suite can provide a data throughput capability of more than 8Gbps over a 50m copper line.”
“In conjunction with”- Ah, sales pitch.
“8Gbps over a 50m copper line” – Just ignore the upgrade cost.
Anyone like to comment on the availability of “copper joiners”? How many unfilled (unfillable) vacancies? What’s the size of back order on copper?
How much would it cost to get a 50m copper run between a fibre ‘node’ and every house in Australia that’s going to be wired to the NBN? I’d tip it’s a tad more expensive than the full fibre option.
They’re definitely trotting out all the spin they can get their hands on.
XGFast would be great with FTTdp in Australia.
It would not be great with FTTN in Australia.
Exactly, FttDP and FttB (and of cource the FttP they refuse to use) are the only fixed line tech with a future.
Just another nail in FttN’s coffin…
Every time the copper cables get faster, the copper cable seems to get shorter..
Hmmm coincidence!
I’d have to agree…
Because while ever there are incumbents with copper networks or governments stupid enough to sell and then re-buy copper networks back, there will be others out there who will innovate to try to get blood from the copper stone… for these people to keep wringing every last cent from their shitty old networks.
This doesn’t alter the fact that, even our copper fan PM and his CEO bud over at NBN, state that fibre is the end goal.
This also doesn’t alter the fact that fiber/fibre has superseded and ergo rendered copper obsolete…
Because like these incumbents and dumb governments (well one government, d’oh), I’m sure typewrite makers, gramophone builders, and those who owned the “iron wires”, et al, didn’t just give up either, they would have tried to avoid the inevitable shift away from their obsolescence for as long as they could, too.
But eventually.
+1
So, “extraordinary innovation” is needed in copper to keep up (and that’s debatable too) with yesterdays GPON fibre technology.
Gee, what’s wrong with this picture? /end sarcasm
Mind you, considering it’s CommsDay/Grahame Lynch, the dislike for government projects involving telecommunications has been well documented by the aforementioned since the NBN inception.
I mean if we’re talking Lab tests we’re seeing TB’s coming out of fibre.
Measuring ones size of ‘speed’ between tech’s is a little moot as the laws of physic’s haven’t been broken per se so copper has this unfortunate handicap that its not physically able to escape.
Besides the fact that there has been gigabit home networking over copper for years! Why isn’t that working on phone lines?!
Oh right….. you actually need good quality cables AND short distances for it to work.
t’s not like ethernet is running from people’s homes after all. It’s coming down to do you pay to install copper to the home to avoid fibre or install the real thing instead ?
Conflict of interest..
This is why Nokia is irrelevant these days – they like to stay in the past.
‘fibre to the most economic point’
It that was true it would be FTTP.
So really it fibre to the most cheap and nasty point.
Fibre to the political dogma?
The thing that annoys me about comments like this about copper, is they are always made implying that advances with Fibre aren’t happening at the same rate… As if Fibre research is dead and buried and won’t continue in the meantime…
Despite the fact Fibre already demolishes these speeds on copper ten times over…
So he’s effectively admitting that FttDP/FttB are the only fixed line tech they are using in the “mix” with a viable future?
Colour me surprised!
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