Knology Calls Wideband Play

5:50 PM -- Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) isn't the only MSO in the land that plans to wire up to 20 percent of its footprint for Docsis 3.0 by year's end. Evidently, Knology Inc. (Nasdaq: KNOL), a competitive cable "overbuilder," is doing that, too.

Although Comcast gets attention every time it sneezes something about Docsis 3.0, Knology's plan for the speedier Internet platform sorta slipped through the cracks.

The overbuilder anticipates "that we will be Docsis 3.0-enabled for about 20 percent of our customers by year-end," MSO chairman & CEO Rodger Johnson said during the company's third-quarter earnings call back on Nov. 5. (See Knology Reports Q3.) "We plan to enable another 50 percent in 2009, and finish out the balance in 2010."

Again, Knology is apparently adopting Comcast's wideband deployment playbook. Comcast also plans to have its network ready for Docsis 3.0 across the board by mid-2010. (See Comcast Enters the Wideband Era , Comcast Takes 'Wideband' Wider , and Comcast Rolls Wideband in the Pacific Northwest.)

'Course, we're talking about rollouts that don't exactly rival each other in size and scope. Comcast has 24.4 million cable subs. Knology has 671,000 total "connections." But still... The news should at least grab the attention of incumbent operators in Knology's footprint.

Johnson, not yet willing to show all of Knology's hole cards, said the MSO will offer Docsis 3.0 on a market-by-market basis "as the competitive situation dictates."

But for those keeping score, here are the sites where Knology could opt to introduce it first:

• Augusta, Columbus, and West Point, Ga.
• Panama City and Pinellas County, Fla.
• Huntsville, Lanett, Montomery, and Valley, Ala.
• Knoxville, Tenn.
• Charleston, S.C.