Ericsson achieves 500 mbps broadband speed on ordinary copper wire

Using the latest technology to remove disturbances, telecommunications network equipment maker Ericsson has demonstrated broadband speeds of over 500 mbps on ordinary copper wires.

Using VDSL2-based technology, Ericsson was able to achieve this speed on existing copper lines, which will open up new opportunities for operators to provide customers with broadband services such as IPTV With this technology, operators can enhance fibre access deployments with copper access in the last mile and thereby maximise the reuse of existing infrastructure.

This means more consumers will be able to enjoy true broadband services such as HDTV and video-on-demand in their homes.

Normally such high speeds are capable on fibre optic cable, and a normal broadband connection is carried by twisted copper wire, although stronger than the fibre optic cable, but lowers the speed over a long distance due to cross talk and other interference.

While transferring data over longer distances is extremely difficult, it is possible to link the fibre optic network using the "last mile" option to offices and homes without losing out on speeds. Currently Europe has 30 or 40 times lower speeds in copper-based technologies using the existing prevalent ADSL2.

The new technology also makes it possible to use existing copper networks as a backhaul for radio base stations, accelerating future rollout of HSPA and LTE-based high-speed mobile broadband services.

Since the copper pairs are in the same cable bundle, this new technology will reduce noise originating from the other copper pairs thus increasing the capacity and reach, where more customers can be connected.

Håkan Eriksson, CTO at Ericsson, said, "This demonstration confirms Ericsson's leadership in broadband access technology and our commitment to the continued research and development of DSL technology to improve operators' business with new access solutions.''

''It also proves Ericsson's abilities to provide future mobile backhauling, which will enable quick and cost-effective introduction of 'long term evolution' (LTE) solutions," he added.

Crosstalk cancellation, also known as vectorised VDSL2, enables extremely high end-to-end transmission rates, improving VDSL2 performance by reducing noise originating from the other copper pairs in the same cable bundle. This increases capacity and reach, boosting the number of customers that can be connected. Vectoring technology also decouples the lines in a cable (from an interference point of view), substantially improving power management, which can reduce power consumption.

Line bonding means bundling several lines into one and assumes that several copper lines are available at the site, which is typically the case. The demonstration showed aggregated rates of above 0.5Gbps at 500m, bonding six lines. Standards for VDSL2 and line bonding are available today, while the standardization of Vectoring is ongoing and is expected by the end of 2009.

The company said that products based on the technology would be available by the end of this year.