Huawei achieves 700 Mbps DSL feat

Huawei has developed a prototype of a new technology it claims can enable a 700 Mbps DSL connection.

Dubbed SuperMIMO, Huawei's prototype DSL technology uses four twisted copper pairs to deliver a 700 Mbps downstream rate over 400 meters. By addressing crosstalk on multiple twisted pairs, an issue inherent with every copper line, Huawei says they can increase DSL bandwidth by 75 percent from about 100 Mbps per twisted pair to about 175 Mbps.

Although the new technology sounds enticing, it was not clear from the release whether this DSL feat was achieved in a lab environment or on a live network. Nonetheless, Huawei's prototype represents an ongoing movement to squeeze more bandwidth out of existing copper-a movement heralded in the U.S. by AT&T, Qwest and in the UK by BT in areas where it has not deployed Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) yet.

Other vendors including Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), ASSIA and Ericsson are also offering ways to up copper bandwidth. Alcatel-Lucent, for example, earlier this year demonstrated how a service provider could transmit 300 Mbps over existing copper with its Phantom Mode technology.

For more:
- Telecompaper has this article
- see the release here

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