PTCL offers speeds up to 50 Mbps
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Company limited (PTCL) will be using VDSL2 Bonding technology to provide existing digital subscriber line (DSL) customers with speeds up to 50 Mbps.

The project leverages Alcatel-Lucent's (Euro next Paris and NYSE: ALU) VDSL2 Bonding expertise and will be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2011, said a press release issued here on Wednesday.

VDSL2 Bonding takes two copper-based VDSL2 lines per subscriber and aggregates them - almost doubling the bandwidths available to existing customers, or expanding high-speed broadband access to areas that are underserved today.

Using VDSL2 Bonding, service providers can extend the life of their existing copper infrastructure - supporting the delivery of bandwidth-intensive services such as triple-play voice, data and IPTV.

According to a recent study from market research firm IHS iSuppli, simultaneous access to applications such as peer-to-peer file sharing, online gaming, streaming audio, VoIP and IPTV will soon require bandwidths between 50 and 100Mbps.

This fits exactly with VDSL2's capabilities, especially when combined with innovations such as Bonding and Vectoring.

Commenting on this achievement President and CEO PTCL Walid Irshaid said, "PTCL is the first service provider worldwide to deploy a commercial VDSL2 Bonding solution that aims at doubling the bandwidths provided to its existing customers. We are thus setting the trend in international telecoms, and are taking the broadband experience in Pakistan to the next level."

Alcatel-Lucent's VDSL2 Bonding technology and comprehensive services and network integration expertise is helping us to keep pace with the increasing bandwidth requirements of our customers, while capitalizing on the existing copper infrastructure, the CEO said.

"This will enable us to quickly deliver high-quality, high-speed and high-availability business and residential services - even in areas where it was not possible before", he said.

Alcatel-Lucent is providing PTCL with its Intelligent Services Access Manager (ISAM) IP access platform - which is the first platform to commercially support VDSL2 Bonding.

Alcatel-Lucent will also supply Bonding-ready customer premises equipment (CPE). Alcatel-Lucent serves as the project's master network integrator, and is providing a range of professional services - including project management, installation and commissioning, integration and technical support.

"We understand that service providers need the right tools to bridge the gap until fiber deployments have become ubiquitous. VDSL2 Bonding is an ideal approach: service providers like PTCL can almost double the speeds supported by their DSL infrastructure or expand their network's reach. This makes it a fast and cost-effective approach to bridging the digital divide," said CEO Alcatel-Lucent Pakistan Ltd,Aadil Rauf.

"This commercial VDSL2 Bonding project with PTCL marks the beginning of VDSL2 Bonding deployments outside of the US - where the technology is typically used to expand the reach of the copper network", he said.