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Telecommunications DOCSIS 3 could keep cable modems competitive with fibre
Telecommunications DOCSIS 3 could keep cable modems competitive with fibre | DOCSIS 3 could keep cable modems competitive with fibre |
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| by Stephen Withers | |
| Thursday, 10 May 2007 | |
  
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The fibre equipment being proposed to Australian carriers by Ericsson would deliver around 50Mbps per household if a 2.5Gbps GPON connection was split between 32 premises using either FTTH or a VDSL2 FTTN setup. Looking further ahead, FTTH offers the prospect of higher speeds if it was shared between fewer customers or when GPON speeds increase. Ericsson officials predict FTTN would only last a few years before the demand for bandwidth drove an upgrade to FTTH. In the US, cable companies and telcos compete to provide Internet, phone and pay TV services. In Australia, the two main cable networks are owned by the two largest telcos, so the competitive tension is significantly different. Any decision to upgrade the cable networks for higher speed (Telstra's BigPond currently offers up to 17Mbps and OptusNet up to 9.9Mbps) would presumably be driven by relative costs and expected revenues rather than a pressing need to attract or retain customers. iTWire asked BigPond and OptusNet about their plans (if any) to move to DOCSIS 3. Telstra spokesperson Craig Middleton said "we are always looking at options for increasing the speed of our networks, including the HFC [hybrid fibre coaxial] network," but Telstra is not committing to the adoption of DOCSIS 3, let alone giving any indication of when that could happen. This article will be updated if and when we hear from Optus.{moscomment} |
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