NBN achieves 1Gbps speeds in HFC demonstration

If you have a HFC (hybrid fibre coaxial) connection to the NBN, you may be able achieve speeds of up to 1Gbps following successful trials of the technology recently.

The in-field trial was held in Templestowe in Victoria in the home of an NBN customer with a direct link between the home and the local point of interconnect in North Balwyn.

There are more than 2.5 million homes and businesses that are due to be connected to NBN HFC in the next year.

DOCSIS 3.1 technology was used to demonstrate the capability over an expanded spectrum will give the NBN to support future wholesale speeds using a standard HFC connection box in the home.

A lab test also demonstrated trial upload speeds 988Mbps.

Both of the trials used the expanded spectrum range inside the coaxial cable which the NBN will progressively begin to use as part of the introduction of the DOCSIS 3.1 technology.

“This is an important day for NBN. It shows how a specific technology – HFC – is evolving to meet customer demand for greater capacity from their broadband connection over time,” said NBN chief technology officer Ray Owen.

“It’s good news for both residential and business customers using HFC as we have demonstrated both the wholesale download and upload capacity of this technology.

“As we work to complete our network rollout, we’re constantly looking at what’s over the horizon for all of our technology assets and how we can evolve our network as demand grows.”

These demonstrations are the result of an ongoing program to improve the HFC network which included technology upgrades and infrastructure improvements.