DSL

DOCSIS 3.0 pushes U.S. broadband speed wars

Cablevision is planning to launch a 101/15 Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 broadband service, which would be the fastest available in the U.S., at a price of $99 per month. The service will launch in NYC suburbs, an area where Verizon has gained strongly with FiOS.

It’s expected that cable will be pushing speed limits up this year, since DSL services can’t begin to match DOCSIS 3.0 performance, and only Verizon among the U.S. RBOCs has the regional demographics to make FTTH widely suitable. This could be good news for equipment vendors, because nothing other than competition is likely to provoke investment in wireline broadband given the low ROI.

Cable companies look at RF over Glass for video delivery

In yet another sign of stress for the IPTV camp, cable companies are looking hard at their own RFoG or linear RF over glass approach, as more telco experience is showing that to be the best way to deliver broadcast channels and (some say) even some video on demand.

A cable shift to fiber to the home has been a possibility for years as the potential of FiOS becomes clear, but the timing of the shift depends on more effective RFoG architectures, which are now emerging.

Our models suggest that there is a narrow range at present where any FTTH approach is too expensive to support and DSL-IPTV is still cost effective.  Below a certain economic density, DSL-IPTV can’t produce decent ROI. RFoG could lower the minimum density for FTTH and so threaten IPTV-DSL as a strategy for telcos, which are likely to adopt some of the principles of RFoG themselves for areas othin in demand to be served by PON. So far, cable appears to be looking at the technology for greenfield builds.

AT&T’s U-verse: The beginning of the end?

AT&T’s new deal with DirecTV may be the beginning of a shift away from U-verse toward the “Homezone” satellite-and-IP/VoD hybrid model, according to rumors we’ve heard.

The problems with U-verse are that the service has an extremely high pass cost—on the order of 4 to 6 times that of cable—and that the limits of DSL in delivery of both content and Internet make U-verse very vulnerable to DOCSIS 3.0 competition. The IPTV model has become more complex and costly over time, and faces its greatest challenges in conjunction with interactivity and HD programming.

We’re also hearing that more EU operators are looking at the linear RF broadcast model of FiOS. Cable has a parallel channel for TV, and competing with cable without that capability is likely to be increasingly difficult no matter where you are in the world. Some cable operators, like Time-Warner, are also now looking at the linear RF FTTH model for green fields, which would be a blow to IPTV supporters.

Verizon ups FiOS speed across footprint

Verizon says it will make its top-tier FiOS service, a 50/20Mbps pipe available over its whole footprint, which would make Verizon users some of the most empowered in the western world. The move comes as cable MSOs prepare an assault on DSL in further commercials.

<p>The combination of all of this puts enormous pressure on AT&T, which has no fiber offering.  But it also pressures Verizon to improve DSL services. Verizon reports DSL has tapered down as customers wait for FiOS, and we believe that Verizon will be offering incentives for users to adopt DSL to hold them over until FiOS is available in their area.

DSL services, Internet taxes - goverment action

Regulators didn’t surprise anyone today with their news, but the did relieve some tensions. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the FCC’s classification of DSL as an information service, and the House voted to extend the ban on Internet taxes for four years. The former ruling was the most instructive because it upholds a relatively generous view of the extent to which the FCC can bend explicit legislative frameworks for competitive regulation to achieve a market goal–widespread and high-quality consumer broadband.