Alcatel-Lucent wrings 10Gbps out of copper

Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs has announced it has achieved a record 10 Gpbs transmission speed over traditional copper telecom lines.

The research lab used prototype technology XG-FAST, an extension of the G.fast technology making its way through the standardization process.

In contrast to G.fast, which uses a frequency range of 106 MHz for data transmission to deliver speeds of up to 500 Mbps over 100 meters, XG-FAST uses a frequency range of up to 500 MHz but transmits over shorter distances.

The 10 Gpbs speed was achieved over a distance of 30 meters by using two bonded pairs of copper lines. The copper cable was provided by a European operator.

During the trial, Alcatel-Lucent also achieved symmetrical 1Gbps speeds over a distance of 70 meters using a single copper pair.

Announcing the results, Bell Labs president Marcus Weldon said by using XG-FAST to connect existing copper last miles to a fiber backbone, operators will potentially be able to provide speeds that are indistinguishable from FTTH services.

“Our constant aim is to push the limits of what is possible,” he said. “Our demonstration of 10 Gbps over copper is a prime example: by pushing broadband technology to its limits, operators can determine how they could deliver gigabit services over their existing networks.”

It has been a strong month already for telecom transmission speed breakthroughs. Ericsson has recently announced it had achieved mobile data speeds of 5Gbps over pre-standard 5G technology, and 3G speeds of 63 Mbps using three-carrier HSDPA.