The G.fast copper technology is becoming increasingly important to mobile operators as a potential alternative to fiber for high speed backhaul and fronthaul to make new architectures, such as Cloud-RAN and hyperdense HetNets, financially viable. The latest specifications from the Broadband Forum boost G.fast’s potential to deliver fiber-like speeds over existing copper networks, a huge economic boost both for home broadband access and for small cell backhaul. The key to enabling copper wires to deliver fiber-like speeds are the distribution points (DPs), where fiber from the central office meets the existing copper wires that connect residences or cell sites. G.fast chips are on the DPU’s circuit boards, which connect one fiber optic cable to multiple copper wires. Telcos welcome any…