BT launched a trial of 10 Gbps XGPON access technology over a live network in Cornwall. The trial, which uses equipment from ZTE, runs in tandem with the company’s existing 330Mbps service on the same Openreach fiber.
Cornwall based engineering firm Arcol UK Ltd. is connected by a direct fiber link from its offices to BT’s exchange in Truro, and is the first business in the country to enjoy the record-breaking speeds. Until recently, Arcol’s 40 staff had shared a 1.5Mbps internet connection. BT said the demonstration aims to show how even faster speeds could be provided over Cornwall’s new fiber infrastructure in the future by upgrading the electronics at the exchange and in user premises.
Ranulf Scarbrough, Program Director for the Cornwall SuperFast Broadband Program, said: “What is exciting about this trial is that these hyper-fast speeds have been obtained over the exactly the same fiber that carries BT’s fiber broadband services today. All we are doing is changing the electronics at either end. This trial shows we are thinking and ready for the future even though there are no current plans to deploy this technology. A lot of this project is about future proofing – making sure that it’s not just the fastest speeds today but that we can continue to be at the cutting edge for five, ten, twenty years.”
