G.fast nationwide deployment in 2016-7 - pilots in Huntingdon & Gosforth in 2015

[#1]

From today's BT press release - http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/ShowArticle.cfm?ArticleID=C3CBFDCD-832A-40E4-A31F-04DFD5F84D09

Quote

BT CEO Gavin Patterson today set out the company’s ambition to transform the UK broadband landscape from superfast to ultrafast. He revealed that BT plans to deliver much faster broadband for homes and small businesses via a widespread deployment of “G.fast”. This is an innovative technology that BT will test in two pilot locations starting this Summer. G.fast will help BT deliver ultrafast speeds of up to 500Mbps to most of the UK within a decade. Deployment will start in 2016/17, subject to the pilots being successful. Early tests show G.fast is capable of delivering a range of speeds depending on how close the technology is to a customer’s premises. BT expects to offer initial speeds of a few hundred megabits per second to millions of homes and businesses by 2020. Speeds will then increase to around 500Mbps as further industry standards are secured and new kit is developed. “BT is a world leader when it comes to fibre innovation and we are excited about the next stage in our story,” Patterson said today. “We believe G.fast is the key to unlocking ultrafast speeds and we are prepared to upgrade large parts of our network should the pilots prove successful. That upgrade will depend however on there continuing to be a stable regulatory environment that supports investment. “The UK is ahead of its major European neighbours when it comes to broadband and we need to stay ahead as customer demands evolve. G.fast will allow us to do that by building on the investment we have made in fibre to date. It will transform the UK broadband landscape from superfast to ultrafast in the quickest possible timeframe.” The two pilots will start this Summer in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire and Gosforth, Newcastle. Around 4,000 homes and businesses will be able to participate in the pilots which will explore what speeds can be delivered using G.fast at scale. The pilots will build on recent tests at BT’s world renowned innovation centre at Adastral Park, Suffolk. These have shown that G.fast has the potential to deliver significant speed increases from existing and new fibre street cabinets as well as from other points closer to the customer. This is an important development as it means the technology can be deployed in a more efficient and rapid manner than previously thought. BT is likely to deploy G.fast from various points in the network, with the pilots allowing it to assess various roll out options. It is also planning to develop a premium fibre broadband service for those residential and business customers who want even faster broadband, of up to 1Gbps. BT is currently expanding the reach of its fibre network by working with the public sector across the UK. Its network already passes almost 22 million premises – around three quarters of the UK – and is open to all communications providers on an equal basis. Its expansion will help the UK to boast 95 per cent coverage for fibre broadband within the next few years. The UK is already ahead of Germany, France, Italy and Spain when it comes to superfast broadband coverage and take-up 1 , and BT’s plans will ensure the UK stays ahead and joins the ranks of world leaders such as Japan and South Korea.

[#2]

Now that is a real surprise - I wasn't expecting this for a while!
EDIT: Ah I see what some of this is - they plan on using the existing FTTC DSLAMs to deliver to lines close to PCP. They could also use those DSLAMs to backhaul the G.fast kit if there are line cards available.
With Virgin delivering 300Mb this year there may be a speed competition in the UK for the first time in a whlie.

[#3]

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Deployment will start in 2016/17, subject to the pilots being successful.

Yeah alright. 

[#4]

+ the right regulatory framework with OFCOM
The premium fibre service of 1Gbps will almost certainly be over FTTP (there has been previous trial talk of this).
Looks like you'll be busy MattyC

[#5]

Actually digesting some more the roll-out looks like it'll be quite measured, and will ramp up over a protracted period of time. The announcement may imply coverage as low as 5-10% by 2020.
Dreading the complaints about a new 'digital divide'.

[#6]

Huawei must have made major advances in the technology with BT because the kit looks quite bulky in this video http://www.huawei.com/en/solutions/broader-smarter/hw-001624-singlefan.htm and only serves 4 lines.

[#7]

Quote from: Melancholie

Now that is a real surprise - I wasn't expecting this for a while! EDIT: Ah I see what some of this is - they plan on using the existing FTTC DSLAMs to deliver to lines close to PCP. They could also use those DSLAMs to backhaul the G.fast kit if there are line cards available. With Virgin delivering 300Mb this year there may be a speed competition in the UK for the first time in a whlie.

so basically just add a new mode to existing dslam for g.fast and only provide it to the closest lines?
not the proper g.fast rollout where they actually add more fibre and bring it to closer to the home.
I wonder if this will happen on ECI given ECI doesnt look like it will get vectoring and vectoring is integrated into g.fast.

[#8]

Quote from: AndyH

Huawei must have made major advances in the technology with BT because the kit looks quite bulky in this video http://www.huawei.com/en/solutions/broader-smarter/hw-001624-singlefan.htm and only serves 4 lines.

blah blah why is all advancements only with that vendor from BT?

[#9]

Because BT have a major research facility that they use in conjunction with Huawei and Alcatel for advancing technologies?

[#10]

how do they test with ECI?
I am not been funny, the way the ECI side of things has been handled appears a complete mess.
Its as if a decision was made to use ECI for them been cheaper based on short term gains, and then the plan changed for vectoring/g.fast so they went back to Huawei again.
The question is but noone appears interested, what are they doing to fix the ECI mess, or are we going to see a digital divide for ECI vs Huawei.  Huawei = g.fast and vectoring, ECI = non vectored vdsl.
I can tell you now if improvements get rolled out to Huawei areas with no price increase over ECI I will refuse to pay a matching price for my service.

[#11]

I doubt ECI have anything like the capital for R&D as Alcatel/Huawei.
It looks like they negotiated a good contract with BT for cabinets, but you don't see them at the forefront in telecommunications technology R&D.

[#12]

Quote from: chrcoluk

so basically just add a new mode to existing dslam for g.fast and only provide it to the closest lines? not the proper g.fast rollout where they actually add more fibre and bring it to closer to the home.

I said that I see what some of it is, as I actually read the release and it states clearly that this is one of the options alongside pushing fibre deeper.

Quote

These have shown that G.fast has the potential to deliver significant speed increases from existing and new fibre street cabinets as well as from other points closer to the customer. BT is likely to deploy G.fast from various points in the network, with the pilots allowing it to assess various roll out options.

[#13]

<Snip>

[#14]

Interesting wording used "at scale" - does this mean they are looking at those people 200m+ also?

[#15]

Quote from: AndyH

I doubt ECI have anything like the capital for R&D as Alcatel/Huawei.

Indeed. I'm sure they'll have G.fast line cards ready at some point they'll just be a bit behind the curve.
Regardless their DSLAMs can be used to backhaul G.fast nodes in the field.