Five years ago this week… Broadband technology G.fast was set for a trial by fire in Australia’s National Broadband Network, with FTTC roll-out to MDUs planned for 2018. An Adtran event in Berlin on the same week unveiled the true extent of the ambitious nationalized network project’s financial mountain, with spiralling costs amounting to $49 billion Australian dollars (US$37.8 billion), at the time in 2017. Nonetheless, the news was welcome relief for the Broadband World Forum event (now Network X), which was lacking poster boys to sway operators and vendors towards G.fast – with most planning to twiddle thumbs until 5G’s arrival. Today, G.fast (now branded as Gfast) technologies are looking to profit from the proliferation of fiber, with the…