ITU members have achieved final approval of G.fast, the new broadband standard designed to deliver access speeds of up to 1Gbps over existing phone lines. The standard answers to service providers’ need for a complement to fibre to the home (FTTH) technologies in scenarios where G.fast proves the more cost-efficient strategy. G.fast, within the fibre to the distribution point (FTTdp) architecture, combines the best aspects of fibre and DSL. Within 400 metres of a distribution point, G.fast provides fibre-like speeds matched with the customer self-installation of DSL, resulting in cost-savings for service providers and improved customer experience.
The development of G.fast was coordinated with the Broadband Forum’s FTTdp system architecture project. ITU and the Broadband Forum have been working in collaboration to ensure that G.fast solutions can be quickly placed into FTTdp deployments. The Broadband Forum will run its first plugfest for January 2015 to ensure compliance with the G.fast standard and certify chipsets and equipment. The Broadband Forum has begun developing a test suite and certification programme for G.fast systems. The test suite will provide for interoperability, functional and performance testing. A beta-trial of the certification programme is planned for mid-2015, and certified G.fast implementations are expected to appear on the market before the end of 2015.
