Watch out Verizon FiOS, here comes Comcast with plans to take its DOCSIS 3.0 service with 100 Mbps capabilities national.
Leveraging its HFC infrastructure, a report in CED Magazine said that Comcast's national DOCSIS 3.0 offering will include a 100 Mbps tier targeted at business users. By comparison, Verizon's highest speed tier for FiOS is 50 Mbps/20 Mbps. However, it probably won't be long until Verizon counters Comcast's drive with its own 100 Mbps capabilities over its GPON-based Fiber to the premises (FTTP) network.
Comcast got its feet wet with 100 Mbps services last September when it launched a 100 Mbps service also targeted initially at business users in its Minneapolis-St. Paul market. While Comcast has set an aggressive timeline to equip its network with DOCSIS 3.0 capabilities, it has not indicated when it will bring the 100 Mbps-capable service to additional markets.
The race to 100 Mbps broadband has become a major talking point lately in the broadband market amongst service providers and regulators. Following Google's proposed 1 Gbps open access network plan, the FCC announced its "100 Squared Initiative" that argues that the minimum broadband speed should be set at 100 Mbps. On the cable front, the drive to launch 100 Mbps services has been just as fierce. In addition to Cablevision and Shaw, both of which launched a 100 Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 service last year, Virgin Media is trialing a 200 Mbps download speed DOCSIS 3.0 offering.
For more:
- CED Magazine has this article
Related articles
Comcast puts the pedal to 100 Mbps metal in Minneapolis
Comcast brings DOCSIS 3.0 to the Windy City
Comcast wraps up San Francisco DOCSIS 3.0 buildout
Cox launches DOCSIS 3.0 attack on Qwest
Virgin Media puts finishing touch on DOCSIS 3.0 network