BT touts G.fast technology as 5G saviour for mobile operators

Tests hit speeds of 150-200Mbps for 'fronthaul' connections

BT has touted its G.fast technology as a potential saviour for mobile operators by announcing that tests have shown it can allow copper lines to handle the speeds necessary for mobile "fronthaul" networks.

G.fast is BT's network technology that it is trialing in several locations in the UK with a view that it can be used to upgrade existing copper connections to speeds that will rival fibre services.

Now, in what it claims is a world first, BT has said it used G.fast for Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) services, essentially the network connection between a mobile mast and dedicated mobile backhaul networks.

Usually this connection has to be fibre to handle the speed required to move data between the tower and the network and back again to a mobile phone.

This is usually both costly and complicated for mobile operators to deploy, especially within remote regions and dense, urban environments.

However, BT said that it managed to send cellular data connections at speeds of between 150Mbps and 200Mbps over G.fast connections within a C-RAN environment, more than adequate for mobile data requirements.

The research took place at BT's Adastral Park labs in Ipswich, with Dr Tim Whitley, managing director for research and innovation at BT, touting the results as a major breakthrough for the future of mobile data networks.

"These technologies will play a key role in 4G networks and will be fundamental to 5G architectures. The trials are another step towards a fixed and mobile network which will support customers' increasing demands for data."

BT carried out the research with US semiconductor firm Cavium and the general manager of its Wireless Broadband Group, Raj Singh, was equally effusive about the impact the tests could have in the future of 5G services.

"Our successful testing has laid the groundwork for enabling LTE deployments today and 5G deployments in the future using G.fast," he said.

Certainly G.fast could be a game-changer for the UK broadband market with BT announcing in October last year that it achieved speeds as high as 5Gbps over copper broadband using an advanced version of its G.fast technology, dubbed XG.fast.