NBN trialling new super fast technology, will increase fibre footprint

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What you didn't know about the NBN1:15

Explaining a few things you might not have known about the change

• February 24th 2017
• 2 months ago
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Workers laying/hauling fibre NBN cable along Dohle's Rocks Rd. Ray Lynden and Levrone Lota pulling the cable through Picture: Chris Higgins

AUSTRALIA is paving the way for lightning fast internet speeds with trials of technology that could make fibre connections 100 times faster than what’s currently available to Australian customers.

The mostly taxpayer-funded National Broadband Network has partnered with Nokia to trial new fibre technology called NG-PON2, which could deliver download and upload speeds of an incredible 10 Gigabits per second. That would be a tenfold increase on the network’s current peak capability and would mean you could download multiple HD movies in just a second.

The company has been trialling the next generation tech in laboratory conditions in Melbourne which works by sending multiple wavelengths of light down a single strand of fibre.

Before you start asking where to sign up there will be some limitations — it will only be available if you have a fibre to the premise (FTTP) connection. At current projections, that will be slightly more than 20 per cent of homes and businesses on the NBN.

There has been no commitment made on when, or even if, the technology will be introduced in Australia and is likely to be five to 10 years away from reality.

Currently the NBN wholesaler already offers 1Gbps download speeds for those with an FTTP connection but retailers such Telstra, Optus and TPG only offer a top range of 100Mbps for customers.

“The NG-PON2 trials we have conducted with Nokia have shown us the huge potential this very exciting technology has in terms of helping us deliver on future consumer demand for data at speed,” the company’s Chief Technology Officer Dennis Steiger said.

The announcement of the NG-PON2 trails comes as NBN Co says it will upgrade an extra 300,000 premises with added fibre involving a technology rollout dubbed fibre-to-the-curb (FTTC).

Speaking at the CommsDay Summit in Sydney this morning, NBN Co’s Chief Network Engineering Officer Peter Ryan announced that 1 million premises (up from 700,000) would receive the technology which involves running fibre closer to the home, and thus closer to the final connection.

The extra fibre will give users superior speeds compared to the more common fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) installation which relies more heavily on copper to make the final connection.

Fibre to the Node connections will make up about half of the network. Picture: Mark Gregory.Source:Supplied

“Having a technology as flexible as FTTC in our suite of network tools allows us to be agile with the build. These premises in the expanded footprint will now be delivered more efficiently from a cost and time perspective — a great outcome for these homes,” Mr Ryan said.

The multi technology mix pursued by the NBN, and favoured by Malcolm Turnbull’s Coalition government, has served to fracture the network with a grab bag of different technologies used to make the final connection to households around the country.

This so-called mongrel mix which relies heavily on pre-existing copper has even prompted some tech experts this week to call the infrastructure project “a national tragedy”.

But NBN Co appears more keen than ever to prove it has legitimate upgrade paths and tech innovations waiting in the wings to upgrade the network and keep pace with demand.

“We are ensuring we have a pipeline of big innovations required to meet future demand for fast broadband as new use cases hit our households such as augmented reality and 4K video content,” Mr Ryan said.

“As demand steadily rises over the next decade, technologies __like NG-PON2 will allow NBN to access significant new capacity from the network.”

Currently, 2 million premises have been switched on to the NBN.