Ireland’s incumbent fixed line operator Eircom has revealed that it has deployed VDSL2 Vectoring technology on its fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) network, enabling speeds of up to 100Mbps to be achieved via copper last-mile connections. The firm says that 150 of its 3,000 FTTC street cabinets have been upgraded so far, with the bulk of the remainder to be completed by the end of this month. The deployment is being carried out by Eircom’s wholesale division, meaning it will depend on retail partners when and where the improved connection speeds become available to end users. Equipment is being supplied by Huawei.
Eircom is amongst the first batch of operators in the world to deploy Vectoring technology, which uses noise cancelling technology to eliminate ‘crosstalk’ on copper lines between the street cabinet and the customer premises, thereby boosting broadband signals and improving speeds. Upon completion, Eircom estimates that at least 70% of the approximately 700,000 homes and businesses currently passed by its FTTC network will be able to achieve speeds of between 70Mbps and 100Mbps.