Chorus delivers 1.6Gbps with Nokia fixed wireless

Chorus has trialled fixed wireless technology for customer broadband access from Nokia, achieving speeds of up to 1.6Gbps.

Chorus said the trials had achieved about 1.6Gbps over 150 metres and the technology had a theoretical maximum throughput of 30Gbps.

According to Nokia the technology has a theoretical aggregate maximum throughput of 3Gbps and can achieve symmetrical data rates of 1Gbps at distances up to 300 metres.

Chorus said the technology could be useful in multiple dwelling units, rights of way, or business parks where a lack of access rights precludes direct fibre deployment.

It will continue to test the WiPON technology "to ensure it is ready for wide-scale deployment, including testing its performance in a range of weather conditions and other scenarios."

The  Nokia Wireless PON (WiPON) technology operates in the unlicensed 60GHz band and uses a small access point that can be mounted on a telephone pole and that is backhauled over fibre. It uses the IEEE 802.11ad wireless standard, a version of WiFi designed specifically for the 60GHz band.

The customer uses an outdoor directional antenna connected into the home over ethernet. Line of sight to the access point is required, but Nokia says a direction antenna is not needed.

"With a 180-degree field of view, there is no need to aim the home unit directly at an access point and with beam-forming technology interference is kept to a minimum."

Chorus' chief customer officer, Ed Hyde, said use of the technology followed progress being made on a range of fronts, that included the introduction of the first residential 10Gbps services next month and the introduction of more affordable gigabit pricing.

“We are continuing with the improvements to the overall fibre installation experience which now sees the majority of fibre installations completed in a single visit, and we will soon be introducing a new premium business fibre product with faster restore times, which is aimed at business-critical applications," he said.

“Work is also progressing on fibre unbundling and we anticipate releasing initial pricing over the next couple of months."