A method, a system and a computer program product for fast detection of the onset of a near-end signal is provided. An Acoustic Echo Canceller (AEC) attenuates an acoustic echo present in a tele-communication network. The AEC includes an adaptive filter that estimates the acoustic echo and generates an error signal. The error signal is the difference between the acoustic echo and the estimate of acoustic echo plus a near-end signal, if present. The method comprises computing an onset indicator parameter from the error signal and the estimate of acoustic echo. Several other parameters are subsequently calculated by using the onset indicator parameter, the error signal and the estimate of acoustic echo. The presence of the near-end signal is detected with very low detection delay by using the parameters mentioned above and one or more threshold values.