Naked broadband speeds of up to 100MB/s are set to be rolled out in Australia. But don’t count on it from BigPond.
They’re off and racing in the Broadband Cup – and Perth-based, ASX-listed EFTel claims to be the early leader with its announcement of a rollout of nationwide VDSL2 – “the next generation in high-speed broadband delivery”.
The very high-speed digital subscriber line 2 will enable speeds of up to 100Mbps, EFTel says. VDSL2 is expected to be certified for use on the public switched telephone network in the first quarter of 2008.
EFTel’s BroadbandNext service will build on multi-service access node – or MSAN – technology. The ASX-listed company reckons MSANs are a leap ahead of the traditional DSLAM broadband, with superior upgradeability, scalability and redundancy.
From February, MSANs will be rolled out at a rate of 15 exchanges a month, with an initial target of 70 exchanges nationwide, CEO Simon Ehrenfeld says. “Apart from delivering superior services to customers, the rollout brings EFTel some freedom from the Telstra cost prison.”
EFTel is partnering with listed Pipe Networks and China’s Huawei Technologies. Pipe owns and operates what it claims is Australia’s biggest Internet exchange and an Australia-wide network of fibreoptic cable serving more than 180 telephone exchanges.
“VDSL2 is also the technology which will be best suited to a FttN future environment,” Ehrenfeld claims.
