Danish telco TDC has announced that it will provide down/uplink speeds of up to 100Mbps/30Mbps over its existing copper network from January 2015, following successful trials of Vectoring technology in the village of Foldby, which is situated between Aarhus and Randers. According to a press release, the telco expects to be able to provide superfast broadband access to over half a million households without the need of costly upgrades. Further, TDC notes that around 230,000km of copper cabling, which currently provides a last-mile connection between end-customers and the distribution points, could benefit from the Vectoring upgrade. Peter Schleidt, TDC’s director of operations, said: ‘The potential of Vectoring is enormous. TDC invests DKK1 billion (USD185.1 milliuon) each year in our network. By not having to dig down thousands of kilometres of cable, we are now able to accommodate far more Danes for the same investment.’
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, in January 2014 the Danish Business Authority (Erhvervsstyrelsen) published a new decision outlining preferential wholesale terms for TDC, in order to prompt the incumbent to upgrade its copper network with Vectoring technology. The decision amended TDC’s obligations to offer wholesale access through copper (Market 4) and will enter into force on 1 January 2015. Under the terms set out by the legislation, TDC will be required to offer alternative telecom companies ‘virtual unbundled local access’ (VULA).