Fixed wireless rivals face 'a lot of trade-offs they're going to have to sort through' regarding elements such as network capacity and potential congestion, says Dave Watson, president and CEO of Comcast Cable.
Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Openreach fiber rolls on; Ziggo brings the gig to Hoogeveen; Sparkle teams up with Atos.
And, for now, the operator will keep at arm's length a lobbying effort led by some major European operators to recoup rising network and capacity costs driven by streaming services.
Bulls and bears are sizing up cable's future. Analysts say the 'cable broadband growth era is over' – others see opportunities with wireless the 'next leg of growth.'
Meanwhile, the supplier is seeing 'high-split' trials and deployments perk up as cable operators seek ways to expand upstream capacity on DOCSIS 3.1 networks.
Nothing beyond DOCSIS 4.0's horizon is officially underway at CableLabs, but the organization is looking at potential spectrum to 3GHz and beyond, CableLabs President and CEO Phil McKinney says.
Charter's 'not that big of a client for us at this point,' says CommScope CEO Chuck Treadway. Yet CommScope remains a key supplier of X1 and Flex boxes powered by Comcast's software platform.
Fresh off a big 5G core deal with Verizon, the cable and wireless supplier is forced to suspend 2022 guidance as visibility is being obstructed by persistent component shortages and general supply chain issues.
Cable industry vet Mitchko-Beale will remain with Charter for an unspecified transition period. Meanwhile, Charter has promoted Justin Colwell, one of its first mobile-focused execs, to drive its converged network strategy.
Charter, a champion of the 'Generic Access Platform' initiative, showed off a standards-based node capable of supporting DOCSIS, PON and even wireless service modules. Deployments could get underway in 2023.
Harmonic's cable access revenues almost doubled in Q1 as CableOS deployments grew to 6.1 million, with 77 operators signed up to their virtualized access network platform.
Comcast expects to have an FDX Amplifier prototype in its labs by July. If the product works as advertised, it will vastly broaden Comcast's ability to roll out Full Duplex DOCSIS on its HFC networks.
At the CableLabs '10G Showcase,' Charter and Comcast showed progress in the form of DOCSIS 4.0 demos powered by a blend of commercially-ready products and prototype technologies.
Charter has sparked RDOF work in all 24 states where it won bids. The cable op booked about $19 million in RDOF revenues in Q1, and expects to have about $9 million per month come in over the next ten years.
Charter, which added 373K mobile lines in Q1, has begun rolling out 'Spectrum Mobile Speed Boost,' a feature that provides 1-Gig speeds to mobile devices in-home, even if the customer's home broadband is provisioned to deliver less than 1-Gig.
The nation's largest cable and broadband provider enjoyed its best quarter yet for mobile subscriber gains but continues to see a slowdown in broadband customer growth.
The cable operator has yet to announce pricing on the new multi-gigabit speed tier, but said it will make the product available in certain neighborhoods across its footprint later this month.
Broadcom is getting into the game with a new Wi-Fi 7 'ecosystem.' Qualcomm and MediaTek are also in the mix, and MaxLinear says it will participate in Wi-Fi 7 testbed activity this summer.
Tied into its plans to upgrade the HFC network so it will eventually support 10-Gig speeds, the Alaskan operator is preparing to reclaim gobs of valuable spectrum by phasing out its legacy QAM video services.
The cable operator has begun to deploy a new DOCSIS 3.1 gateway that supports the 6GHz band to broadband customers on its two fastest speed tiers.
