Delft, The Netherlands, 25 July 2013 – VDSL2 vectoring is rapidly taking ground in the race to provide added bandwidth to meet the broadband needs of consumers. This was the conclusion reached at the TNO DSL Seminar held last month in Scheveningen in the Netherlands. The event, the world’s leading specialist seminar on DSL technologies and innovation, focused more than ever on the real-world practicalities such as implementing vectoring solutions, with several service providers reporting on the findings of their field trials or early deployments and with R&D contributions from equipment manufacturers.
TNO DSL Seminar 2013 logo
TNO DSL Seminar 2013 logo
Many of the participants at the seminar are regular contributors or attendees and have been able to observe first-hand the evolution of new technologies over the five years since the first meeting, from discussing new ideas, to development, innovation and then practical application. “It’s amazing to see how far we progress from one year to the next,” comments Teun van der Veen of TNO. “In the first editions we were still mainly discussing the possible advantages of vectoring from a theoretical standpoint. Now operators on at least three continents have told us this year all about their early deployment experiences.”
New visitors and regular attendees at the event were impressed by the comprehensive subject matter and the lively discussions of both forward-thinking topics and also the practicalities of implementation. Steven Bultynck, Solution Engineer at Belgacom, commented: “The event provides an excellent benchmarking opportunity – where we can compare our experience with that of other operators. We have been coming since the first event five years ago and we gain new information on technology developments and the regulatory status. The seminar allows us also to share our experiences with our peers across the industry and share best practices on validation, field trials and deployment.”
The seminar has grown in numbers each year and has also developed into a three-day event, with the first day devoted to the regulatory landscape and policy issues, including contributions from key regulators, policy-makers and industry analysts. It was remarkable to learn about the difference between the regulatory situation in different countries. This part of the programme was chaired by Herman Pals, Senior Business Consultant at TNO. “We had an exceptionally wide range of contributions this year,” commented Herman Pals. “From discussions on the Digital Agenda for Europe, to presentations about broadband roll-out in several European countries, predictions on the evolution of vectoring, cable broadband and many other topics, plus a very lively panel discussion, we were all treated to a very thought-provoking day.”
Day Two and Three focused on innovation in DSL where major advances have been made in the last five years. Chaired by Kevin Foster, President of the Broadband Forum, which co-hosts the seminar with TNO, the innovation days presented a wealth of information including experience from several countries and telecom operators. Dutch field trials, Malaysian deployment, Swisscom, Belgacom, P&T Luxemburg and Deutsche Telekom’s long-term views and contributions from vendors including Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent, Assia, Adtran and Ikanos, all gave an optimistic but balanced picture of the future.
Verdicts from participants varied: vectoring featured as a very strong theme throughout the presentations and also the conversations between delegates, with the consensus that most operators were implementing or planning some level of deployment in order to stretch their investment in copper whilst improving the quality of services over copper by mitigating crosstalk. Opinions on the long-term roadmap for G.fast or Fibre to the Distribution Point (FTTdp) varied more from one service provider to another and among the vendors present. All however welcomed the potential of G.fast to deliver Gigabit speeds to the home via a hybrid fibre/copper solution bringing fibre closer to the home but depending on copper for the final few metres, delivering fourth generation broadband services (4GBB) to the mass market.
“One thing is certain,” adds Teun van der Veen: “Next year’s event will be just as lively and we expect to be able to measure tangible progress as DSL continues to deliver faster, better quality broadband through new technologies and improvements to existing services. We can expect more revelations next year!”
