The International Telecommunication Union has finalized approval of G.fast, the broadband standard designed to deliver 1 Gigabit per second broadband speeds over existing copper wires. G.fast is meant to be an alternative to fiber-to-the-home for service providers that want to deliver “triple play” services and/or backhaul small cell traffic over copper.
The ITU says G.fast can deliver speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second over existing telephone wires, within 250 meters of a distribution point. G.fast uses 106 Mhz of bandwidth vs. 17 Hhz for typical VDSL installations. Now that the standard has been approved, the agency expects to see commercial solutions soon.
“The time from G.fast’s approval to its implementation looks set to be the fastest of any access technology in recent memory,” said Dr. Hamadoun I. Touré, the ITU’s secretary-general. “A range of vendors has begun shipping G.fast silicon and equipment, and service providers’ lab and field trials are well underway.”
One of those G.fast silicon vendors, Sckipio Technologies, said today it has raised $17 million in Series B financing in a round led by Pitango Venture Capital.
“The market for G.fast is about to explode,” said Eitan Bek, a general partner at Pitango. “But what makes Sckipio a special opportunity is its combination of a world-class team, incredible technology and deep expertise in the G.fast market.”
Sckipio previously raised $10 million from Gemini Israel Ventures, Genesis Partners, Amiti Capital and Aviv Ventures.
Sckipio sees G.fast as a good solution for operators that want to deploy small cells to boost coverage and capacity in multiple dwelling units. G.fast will enable one fiber connection to serve the entire building, according to Sckipio, because copper can be used to connect the small cells to the fiber without compromising speeds. The company says G.fast can leverage the same physical infrastructure that Ethernet uses, but is less susceptible to crosstalk interference.
The Mobile Minute is sponsored by Juniper Networks.
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