Vienna, 22 March 2017

At a demonstration carried out together with Nokia in Vienna last week, transmission rates in excess of 10 Gbit/s were achieved for the first time in Austria via copper cable in the fixed line network. The record speed was made possible by an advance in existing G.fast technology, which also supports ultra-high-speed broadband Internet over conventional copper lines and which, in future, will be able to cover steadily rising demand for high-bandwidth Internet services.

The Austrian subsidiary A1 is using the potential of existing copper lines in residential areas - the test conducted in Vienna used a 30-meter-long copper cable and test equipment supplied by Nokia Bell Labs, the company's research lab. A1 and Nokia demonstrated that the copper cables existing between sidewalk or the basement of a building or apartments suffice to achieve speeds in excess of 10 Gbit/s in future. Two-hour HD films could thus be downloaded in less than 10 seconds and 1,000 photos transferred in less than two seconds. Households could be given access to the A1 fiber optic network with no drilling and chiselling work and without the time and expense this involves.

"In urban areas in particular, demand for ultra-high-speed broadband services with data transmission rates in excess of 100 Mbit/s is growing faster than an area-wide high-speed fiber optic infrastructure can be completed. XG-FAST enables us to bring fiber-optic-speed Internet to our customers over our existing telephone copper wires. We remain faithful to our long-term vision to bring fiber-optic lines to every home - however, until then, XG-FAST will serve as a smart bridging technology" said Sascha Zabransky, Director Group Technology & Future Services at Telekom Austria Group about the promising demonstration.

XG-FAST uses the final stretch of the existing copper network to bring super-fast Internet to homes and offices. The test carried out today shows how in a few years' time the potential of existing networks will be used to bring ultra-high-speed broadband to the customers.

"Together with A1 we are working towards providing high-bandwidth services quickly and cost-effectively, using a combination of fibre-optic and copper technologies," said Peter Wukowits, Nokia Country Manager Austria and Head of the Customer Business Team Central Europe. "The XG-FAST trial is an important milestone in our efforts to achieve very high speeds also over copper wires and at the same time to bring fibre-optic technology closer to residential and business customers."

A1 is constantly adapting transmission technologies to rising bandwidth requirements. The G.fast and XG-FAST technologies are particularly suitable for FTTB (Fiber-to-the-Building) expansion in residential areas. Under this model A1 installs high-speed fiber-optic lines to a node in the cellar of the building or the boundary of the property, which then connects with the existing line.