At the same time VDSL Vectoring with speeds of 100 Mbps should be available in early 2015 to all the 2.25 million homes and businesses on the Buitenringen. KPN said the equipment upgrade will be completed in Q1. The wholesale service for the 100 Mbps connections will cost the same as the current 80 Mbps lines. The operator is already far along in the process of upgrading the 660 FTTC street cabinets, with another 240,000 addresses to be added.
Most modems on the market already support VDSL Vectoring via a firmware update. For bonded vectoring, the number of modems available on the market is still limited, so KPN is working with a white list of approved equipment. Chipsets and firmware used for single vectoring will not automatically be certified for bonded vectoring. The additional test costs around EUR 20,000, KPN said.
The vectoring services will be subject to regulated prices, part of the ACM's current market decision on wholesale access to KPN's network. The latest decision is still in the draft phase and expected to take effect next year.
KPN Wholesale also plans to introduce a 200 Mbps symmetric service over the Reggefiber fibre network in mid-January. The service will cost EUR 18 per month, compared to EUR 11 for 100 Mbps and EUR 26 for 500 Mbps. The best-effort offer is available only on part of the FTTH network. It's not yet known which ISPs plan to offer the new speed.
