(Telecompaper) The ITU's Study Group 15 has given first stage approval to a new Gigabit broadband standard called G.fast, which delivers up to 1 Gbps fibre performance over existing copper cables at lower costs by using vectoring technology. G.fast is designed to deliver superfast broadband downloads up to a distance of 250 meters, thereby eliminating the expense of installing fibre between the distribution point and people's homes. The study group's decision covered the ITU-T G.9700 recommendation, which specifies methods to minimise the risk of G.fast equipment interfering with FM radio and other broadcast services, paving the way for G.fast to be approved in early 2014. The ITU expects G.fast to be deployed by service providers wanting to provide 'FttH-like' services. The new G.fast standard is being coordinated with the Broadband Forum's system architecture project, Fibre to the Distribution Point (FTTdp).