Full Service VDSL COMMITTEE to advance broadband access technology : more than 30 companies agree to accelerate technical standards for VDSL

Wednesday August 9 — Following a working session in Paris attended by more than 30 leading communications technology companies; British Telecommunications (BT), France Telecom and Qwest Communications today announced the formation of a committee to accelerate the commercial deployment of Full-Service Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line technology (FS-VDSL), which enables the delivery of fully digital video programming, high-speed data and voice services over traditional phone lines.

The committee intends to jointly support and promote FS-VDSL based on the optimized spectral allocation known as "Plan 998" for delivering comprehensive, integrated consumer services including video entertainment, high-speed Internet access and voice phone services, using existing copper wire twisted pair infrastructure combined with high-bandwidth fiber optics to the neighborhood. The Committee will include high-speed voice, video and data providers, hardware manufacturers and software developers in North America, Europe and Asia.

Companies who participated in the working session hosted by France Telecom Research and Development last month included telecommunications leaders such as BT, Deutsche Telecom, France Telecom, NTT, Qwest, SBC, Swisscom, Verizon, and more than 20 equipment providers. It is expected that participation will grow considerably as the industry begins to recognize the significance of this initiative, and will ultimately include representatives from all the relevant technology domains.

"This committee will help drive new broadband opportunities for consumers the same way that other forums for other industries have expanded adoption and availability of competitive services for consumers." according to Christiane Schwartz, senior executive vice president for Innovation at France Telecom, who opened the meeting.

"We believe that rapidly increasing competition for entertainment video, high-speed data and voice services has highlighted the need for service providers to accelerate deployment of a broadband solution for the global copper wire access infrastructure based on VDSL." said Don Clarke a keynote speaker from BT who is leading VDSL development at BT's Advanced Communications Technology Centre at Adastral Park in the UK.

Among the FS-VDSL Committee's key objectives is to achieve within six months the completion of international standards for VDSL, and to close gaps and maximise commonality in all relevant technical specifications. The committee will work closely with the DSL Forum and other key bodies to achieve that. Specific subgroups for these other technical areas will be announced in the next few weeks.

"FS-VDSL builds on the previous work done by the FSAN initiative (Full Service Access Networks). However, the urgent need for quick resolution of key technical issues to allow carriers to compete has compelled many of the existing FSAN leaders to recommend the formation of this new FS-VDSL group." said Guy du Chaffaut, Head of Advanced Access Networks for France Telecom who hosted the meeting.

"We have proven that FS-VDSL can compete extremely effectively with digital cable networks," said John Czak, vice president of the Broadband Access Services Group at Qwest, which already uses the technology to provide services to more than 50,000 customers in Phoenix. "Now is the time for the communications industry to work together to accelerate the technical standards needed by our vendors. This will enable telecommunications carriers to better compete with the broadband cable networks being rapidly deployed, and expand customers’ choices for broadband services."

FS-VDSL Committee   

October 20th, 2000