Nokia says it has reached an agreement with Energia Communications (EneCom) to deploy Nokia's G.fast technology combined with Japan's VDSL for the country's first launch. The technology will be deployed to allow the cable operator to prepare its networks for rising broadband demand during the nation's global 2020 sporting event. The description matches that of the Summer Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, although Nokia did not name the event.
In light of the impending discontinuationof the majority of Japan's current VDSL, operators delivering VDSL need another way to address the delivery of broadband services for multi-dwelling units (MDUs), says the systems house. Nokia asserts it is the only vendor offering operators interoperability between G.fast equipment and the Japan-specific VDSL technology.
In February 2016, EneCom decided to accelerate the first commercial launch of G.fast technology in Japan, and selected Nokia to supply the transmission equipment (see "Japan's Energia Communications to deploy G.fast commercially with Nokia"). Last month, the joint interoperability test in EneCom's network met with success, which Nokia attests is proof that its technology provides an economical, seamless migration of service providers' networks to the ultra-high-speed broadband provided by G.fast.
The G.fast rollout will not only enable service providers to launch 8K television service and other high-bandwidth consuming applications, but will make way for future XG-FAST deployment, which can provide up to 10 Gbps of speed, says Nokia (see "Nokia, Deutsche Telekom test 10-Gbps XG-FAST in lab"). Operators will have the ability to continue using VDSL customer premises equipment (CPE) and replace it with G.fast CPE in response to future growth in demand for higher speed broadband service, the company says.
"We have a longstanding partnership with EneCom, and are confident that G.fast will enable them to delight their subscribers by providing superior broadband experience," said Sang Xulei, Head of Fixed Networks, Asia Pacific, and Japan Region. "G.fast is emerging as a technology of choice to deliver fiber-like speeds to customers over short distances. It will also allow operators to control expenditures since G.fast uses existing copper infrastructure. The deployment will ensure that EneCom gets the crucial first-mover advantage, meaning they can attract new customers by cost-effectively providing high-speed broadband of 1 Gbps, which is higher than the average speed currently being provided."
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