Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) and Belgian national carrier Belgacom (Euronext Brussels: BELG), have revealed that Belgacom will be the first to deploy the VDSL2 vectoring technology Alcatel-Lucent announced last week (see “Alcatel-Lucent offers VSDL2 vectoring to support 100-Mbps services”). The use of VDSL2 vectoring will enable Belgacom to deliver guaranteed speeds of 50 Mbps over its copper infrastructure nationwide by 2014 as part of its “Broadway” broadband program.
Belgacom serves more than a million customers with television and high speed internet. The current 78.9% national VDSL2 coverage will increase to 85% by the end of 2013 as part of the new rollout.
Alcatel-Lucent acknowledges that Belgacom’s collaboration was key to the development and commercialization of the VDSL2 vectoring capability.
According to Scott Alcott, executive vice president, service delivery engine at Belgacom, “Our continuous network modernization over the years has positioned Belgium among the leading broadband nations in the world. Together with the expertise of Alcatel-Lucent, we continue to deploy innovative solutions to leverage our existing copper infrastructure in a fast and cost-effective way, delivering a higher quality broadband experience to our subscribers. This latest phase in our collaboration will play a major role in meeting the European Digital Agenda 2020 goals.”