Belgium-based provider of telecommunications services, Belgacom (News - Alert), and Alcatel-Lucent have revealed that they are well on track to deliver the next generation VDSL2 broadband network to a large majority of Belgian households, leveraging Alcatel-Lucent’s (News 
- Alert) VDSL2 Vectoring technology.
Luc Defieuw, VP of CIS for North, Central and Eastern Europe at Alcatel-Lucent said that last year, numerous service providers around the world have followed Belgacom’s leading example, looking into VDSL2 Vectoring to deliver higher bandwidths to more subscribers over their existing copper infrastructure.
“Leveraging the results from VDSL2 Vectoring trials with more than 20 service providers, we have shown that Vectoring delivers on its promise,” Defieuw said, adding that the company is proud to partner with Belgacom to now bring VDSL2 Vectoring from innovation to mass deployment.
A noise-cancelling technology, VDSL2 Vectoring works a lot like noise-cancelling headphones. Company officials also explained that it cuts out all of the noise or interference among the VDSL2 lines in a bundle and with no interference, every VDSL2 line can operate at peak speeds, as if it were the only line in the bundle.
The new VDSL2 Vectoring technology’s tests have confirmed that it delivers “significantly” higher broadband speeds over Belgacom’s existing telephone lines. Company officials said that this offers a dedicated speed of 50 megabits per second (Mbps) to a vast majority of customers in addition to a guaranteed high quality video experience.
Additionally, to a vast majority of customers, the VDSL2 network supplied to Belgacom delivers a dedicated speed of 30 Mbps. Moreover, it also delivers a high quality HDTV experience to over 83 percent of the households, making Belgium one of the world’s leading broadband nations, with more than one million active VDSL2 customers, according to company officials.
Last year, Belgacom and Alcatel-Lucent announced a partnership to jointly develop the next generation VDSL2 System Level Vectoring technology to achieve the targets set by the European Union’s Digital Agenda and to provide customers with a premium broadband service experience.
“One year ago, we were the first to announce our VDSL2 Vectoring plans as an extension to this strategy; today, we can proudly confirm that we are well on track to engage in a mass rollout of VDSL2 Vectoring throughout the country,” said Geert Standaert, executive vice president for service delivery engine at Belgacom
To prepare an “operationally ready” end-to-end solution, both companies have worked over the past twelve months with key industry partners, including the home gateways manufacturers Sagemcom and Technicolor, and chipset developers Broadcom and Ikanos (News - Alert).
Additionally, Belgian regulator BIPT, the other services providers and Belgacom have also jointly worked out a regulatory framework, which is expected to ensure the emergence of an open and evolutive next generation VDSL2 network in Belgium.
Last month, Belgacom selected Alcatel-Lucent's Service Quality Manager to measure the performance of mobile services.
Edited by
Allison Boccamazzo
