Telecom NZ commits to VDSL2 roll-out

Telecom New Zealand has announced that its wholesale division will be rolling out super-fast VDSL2 (Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line 2) technology, allowing it to offer "one of the fastest broadband services in the world".

(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet.com.au)

The carrier will be bringing the technology to its roadside cabinets, the equivalent of Australia's nodes, and local telephone exchanges. Telecom New Zealand is in the midst of rolling out 2,500 kilometres of fibre in a project which will allow over 80 per cent of New Zealanders to access high speed broadband by 2011.

The VDSL2 upgrade will enable "high-speed" broadband to be "higher-speed" broadband. New Zealanders within one kilometre of the cabinets and exchanges will be able to achieve up to 50Mbps downlink and up to 20Mbps up.

"We have been testing VDSL2 for several months now and we're excited to be getting the VDSL2 roll-out underway in key metropolitan centres across New Zealand," Telecom Wholesale chief executive Matt Crockett said in a statement. "With the fibre-to-the-node program hotting up and shortening copper loop lengths across the country, it's the perfect time to deploy VDSL2."

The carrier did not disclose how much would be spent on the roll-out.

From March, VDSL2 line cards will be installed into all cabinets and local telephone exchanges in towns and cities with more than 500 lines. The service providers buying from Telecom NZ wholesale will be able to offer the product from then, with key Auckland exchange areas serviced and available in the second quarter of the year and major cities and towns in the third quarter of the year.

For customers which live more than one kilometre from an exchange, the line cards operate in ADSL2+ mode.

In Australia, Eftel has also been rolling out a VDSL network.