New research is predicting that by 2021, copper technology G.fast will be used to serve around 29 million residential subscribers globally, representing about 3 percent of the world’s broadband market. That’s according to an Ovum report that was commissioned by nbn and BT.

Australian broadband provider nbn held its first G.fast trial in October 2015 and has been conducting additional lab trials of XG.FAST in recent weeks. The company also recently revealed that it plans to deploy fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) technology to approximately 700,000 premises.

The Ovum forecast points to some strong G.fast attention in Europe, with operators including BT, Swisscom, Deutsche Telekom, Telekom Austria and Proximus (Belgium) all planning to deploy G.fast. “About 11 percent of broadband services in Western Europe may be delivered via G.fast within five years, with a number of major markets already including the technology in their upgrade plans,” the report says. Openreach, BT’s local network division, is expected to be one of the first operators in the world to launch commercial G.fast services, probably in 2017. It is aiming to make ultrafast speeds available to 12 million premises in the U.K. by the end of 2020 using G.fast and fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) technologies.

“Developed by Nokia Bell Labs, XG.FAST is targeting throughput of up to 10 Gbps over very short bonded copper lines,” the report also says. “This effectively positions XG.FAST as a fiber extension solution that avoids the cost, and often logistical challenges, of accessing the premises.”