CenturyLink claims the largest G.fast deployment in the United States: Platteville, Wisconsin, where the carrier has installed G.fast technology in 44 multi-dwelling units (MDUs) to provide internet speeds of up to 500 Mbps and higher to nearly 800 apartments.
CenturyLink said it is evaluating other locations, beyond MDUs, where G.fast technology can be used to give customers access to faster speeds, such as fiber-fed multi-tenant units (MTUs) and neighborhoods where fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) allows for G.fast to push higher speeds over the short amount of copper into the home.
The rollout uses the Calix AXOS G.fast solution, with all systems and services managed via the cloud through Calix’s Compass Consumer Connect Plus software.
In 2015, CenturyLink deployed fiber-to-the-premises technology to the majority of residential and business customers in Platteville to upgrade the CenturyLink Televideo TV service to CenturyLink Prism TV service and to offer broadband speeds up to 1 Gbps.
“We saw a great opportunity to use existing copper assets in our Platteville network to bring ultra-fast internet speeds to customers who live in areas that typically don’t have access to these new broadband technologies delivering higher speeds,” said Aamir Hussain, CenturyLink executive vice president and chief technology officer. “We take a fiber-first approach when deploying faster broadband speeds but enabling G.fast over copper infrastructure helps us reduce costs, speed time to market and effectively connect our customers to the power of the digital world in areas where fiber deployment is less feasible.”
