Chorus Conducts trials for delivering high-speed Broadband using WPON technology.
New Zealand’s telecommunication service provider, Chorus has announced that it has successfully conducted trials on a wireless solution that would deliver gigabit speeds without the need for fibre from the street into a customer’s premise. The new technology if found economical and cost-effective, would benefit millions of end-users especially in rural areas and MDUs where the right of way license is difficult to receive.
Chorus is now considering Nokia’s WPON, Wireless Passive Optical Networking, the solution to deploy in areas where direct fiber to the home installations may not be feasible. Direct deployment of fiber to the end-users are sometimes troublesome as it needs a lot of approvals from the building owners in big cities. At the same time, the economic feasibility of direct fiber connection in rural areas is also an issue, considering the period for the return of investment.
At wide business parts, where end-user connection points are distributed,, Chorus can deploy wireless to the x technology (WTTx). A fiber connection in the backhaul will ensure sufficient bandwidth to the wireless transmission point. The challenge was the last-mile transmission speed and bandwidth. With Nokia’s WPON technology, this hurdle could be passed. Consenting challenges are higher in business parks. and WPON is an alternative for Chorus.
WPON uses a small access point on a nearby telephone pole or lamppost that is connected to the fiber optic cable running down the street.
End-users need to keep an antenna at the outside wall of their building to catch the wireless signals transmitting from the nearest Wireless transmitter. The outdoor antenna will link to their router inside the premise using an Ethernet cable. WPON uses the unlicensed 60GHz spectrum, so it is not subject to spectrum auctions.
The WPON technology requires line of sight between the access point and the customer’s premise.
Chorus’ trials have shown speeds of around 1.6Gbps over 150m, with WPON delivering a theoretical maximum of 3Gbps.
In the near future, the WPON technology would become a potentially helpful broadband delivery tool for Chorus since the operator is looking for ways to deploy broadband in a quicker way.
Chorus still term this service as a fiber service and said that they are continuing with the improvements to the overall fiber installation experience. High-speed broadband signal delivery from the wireless transmission point is possible due the fiber backhaul and therefore, the operator needs to continue deploying its fiber cables to the wireless transmission points.
Chorus said it will soon be introducing a new premium business fibre product with faster restore times, which is aimed at business-critical applications. Work is also progressing on fiber unbundling and the service provider anticipates releasing initial pricing over the next couple of months.
Chorus said, it would continue to test the WPON technology to ensure it is ready for wide-scale deployment, including testing its performance in a range of weather conditions and other scenarios.
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