The next generation of high speed cable connectivity could come to Quebec business customers this year, posing an opportunity for those selling cable modems and a challenge to VARs offering slower telco-based Internet and managed services.
The emerging technology was shown off Thursday by Quebec cable provider Videotron Ltd., which said in production tests it has achieved download speeds of up to 98 megabits per second, just over four times the maximum 20Mbps it offers home users now.
By comparison, most North American telephone companies are offering high speed at around 6Mpbs.
However, Videotron didn’t promise that when its ultra speed debuts it will come close to the century speed mark.
Still, Pierre Roy, the cable company’s vice-president of engineering, said that “this is a new era that enables us for the future.”
While Videotron executives talked about the advantage to home users of ultra-speed connectivity, a Canadian telecom industry analyst said that it will also give the cable company a way to lure business customers in Quebec from VARs and telephone companies selling online data and telephony services.
“I suspect the 100Mbps service will be more skewed towards business, and priced in a way business will find attractive,” said Iain Grant of the SeaBoard Group.
It could also be a boon to those Quebec solution providers already resell Videotron business services.
Manon Brouillette, Videotron’s senior vice-president of marketing, said business users are among those involved in the pilot project and their feedback on how they use the increased speed and capacity will help determine Videotron’s strategy. “We see significant opportunities for business to better communicate (and) better exploit their capabilities” with faster connectivity, she said.
Videotron achieved its hike in speed under a pilot project that started in December with (Cisco Systems, which installed what it calls its Wideband solution – upgraded hardware and software to Videotron’s Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS).
The package is based on the (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS) proposed DOCSIS 3.0 specification for high speed data over cable. Most cable providers are using running on the DOCSIS 2.0 standard, although a number, such as (www.shaw.ca) Shaw Communications, are investigating the possibilities of adopting the new standard when it is finalized.
DOCSIS is a standard set by CableLabs in conjunction with a number of major IT vendors including Intel, Motorola, Broadcom, Netgear and Texas Instruments, many of whom make equipment for cable companies, corporate buyers and consumers.
To get the improved speed, end users also have to replace their existing cable modems with new ones that essentially “bond” the multiple channels in coaxial cable so they appear as a fatter pipe.
Videotron hopes to roll out service later this year to home and business users at prices and speeds yet to be determined. Olaf Krahmer, Cisco Canada’s vice-president for service providers, said in an interview that Videotron can regulate the speed it will offer customers by choosing the number of frequency bands it will to deploy. The tests now underway will show not only how high a speed can be sustained under DOCSIS 3.0, but also what customers want and how much they’re willing to pay.
Vince Vittore, a senior analyst at the Yankee Group, noted that because cable bandwidth is shared, users rarely get the maximum speeds advertised by providers because data flow slows as the number of people online goes up. On the other hand, his company is examining the possibility that as speeds increase, downloads of Web pages get faster to the point where the odds increase that posted speed can be achieved.
Meanwhile, DOCSIS 3.0 won’t be be finalized only at the end of the year. Most Canadian cable companies – such as Shaw, Rogers, Aurora, Eastlink and Mountain Cable -will wait until then before upgrading their infrastructure, Vittore said. By not waiting Videotron is “really pushing the edge.”
Adoption, of course, depends on pricing. Videotron now charges $79.95 a month to home users for its current fastest service.
What’s noteworthy, said Grant, is that Cisco’s solution doesn’t need an extensive or expensive investment by a cable company, mostly a swap of circuit boards.
“What I was impressed with was the guys at Videotron were saying ‘The guys at Cisco came, they installed the thing and it worked. That has not always been the case” when upgrading infrastructure, he said.
Grant said that if Videotron can deliver century speed it will put the company’s Quebec subscribers in an exclusive club – only South Korea providers offer service at 100Mbps.
