Huawei announced that it will deploy what is believed to be the first G.fast network in the Middle East in partnership with Omantel, a leading operator in Oman, to enable the company to extend ultra-broadband services more efficiently by utilising existing copper infrastructure.
Huawei noted that Omantel has abundant copper resources in its existing network, and to address growing subscriber demand for digital home services and HD video Omantel plans to reconstruct its networks to enhance its broadband services. Specifically, by 2020 the company aims to cover 90% of residential subscribers in Muscat, Oman’s capital city.
Under the program, in selected service areas Omantel plans to deliver bandwidth from 200 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s to high density buildings to offer end users higher bandwidth and improved services.
For the project, Huawei proposed its E2E G.fast solution that features optical line terminal (OLT), G.fast distributed point unit (DPU) and G.fast CPE to help Omantel to meet its objectives. It noted that field tests show G.fast can support 800 Mbit/s and 400 Mbit/s over loops spanning 100 metres and 300 metres, respectively, which is greater than can be supported using ADSL2+ or VDSL2 technology.
Omantel will deploy the Huawei G.fast in the basements of tall, multi-story buildings, where the existing copper infrastructure, including telephone lines, will be reused to deliver ultra-broadband access. This approach removes the need for installation work inside homes to help lower costs, while the large-capacity G.fast sites, which are able to serve up to 96 lines, help to further reduce per-subscriber costs.Omantel will also deploy Huawei's G.fast home gateway, which provides support for voice, data and video services, as well as dual-band gigabit-class WiFi services.
Huawei stated that to date more than 20 operators have conducted G.fast deployments or tests, with the technology currently deployed commercially with customers in the UK, Switzerland, Germany and Canada.
