10Gbps UK Cable Broadband Speeds Edge Closer After DOCSIS 3.1 Tests

Key hardware for the next generation DOCSIS 3.1 cable broadband standard, which could eventually be used by Virgin Media (Liberty Global) to deliver top UK Internet download speeds of up to 10Gbps (Gigabits per second) and 1Gbps uploads via their predominantly urban network, has successfully passed its first interoperability tests.

According to CableLabs, which has been developing the new DOCSIS 3.1 specification for several years, six technology companies have now completed the first successful interoperability test of related hardware (e.g. early cable modem kit etc.). The event tested product interoperability, and is said to have demonstrated both higher efficiency and wider channels, which combine to make multi-Gbps speeds possible.

Two of the ways in which the new technology aims to boost performance is by utilising technologies such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), which can encode data by using multiple carrier frequencies, and quadrupling the amount of radio spectrum up to 200MHz. Admittedly the top speeds of 10Gbps would only work over a short range, but domestic consumers aren’t likely to see that anyway.

Phil McKinney, CableLabs President and CEO, said:

“The remarkable speed at which DOCSIS 3.1 has gone from concept, to specification, to interoperability testing demonstrates the great value of collaboration by industry stakeholders. This is a great step forward toward future deployment.”

Tom Lookabaugh, CableLabs Chief Research and Development Officer, added:

“The success of this first DOCSIS 3.1 interop validates that multi-Gigabit services will soon be a reality for cable broadband customers. Operators around the world can now look forward to a new generation of capabilities added to their DOCSIS based networks.”

The DOCSIS 3.1 standard is arguably the cable industry’s answer to innovations like G.fast in the copper telecoms market (not that they need it yet) and is also seen as a way of delaying the need to invest in a roll-out of pure fibre optic (FTTH/P/B) style connectivity, at least within the existing HFC footprint.

At present Virgin Media is only lab testing DOCSIS 3.1 and as a result their hybrid (HFC) Fibre-to-the-Local/Node (FTTN) style network, which delivers the final connection into homes via a short run of copper or high-grade coaxial cable and is predominantly based off a EuroDOCSIS variant of the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS3), offers maximum download speeds of up to 152Mbps.

It’s also widely predicted that Virgin Media will next year introduce another double speed boost, which will use the operators existing standards rather than the future DOCSIS 3.1 spec, that will take their performance up to 300Mbps for home users. But after that Virgin’s ability to pull more speed out of their existing kit will become increasingly difficult and future upgrades may require DOCSIS 3.1.

Cable giant Liberty Global, which owns Virgin Media and many other cable providers, have made no secret of their desire to see a commercial roll-out of DOCSIS 3.1 by the end of 2016 and the first completed hardware should be ready for field trials during H1-2015. In the meantime Virgin has also been conducting some limited deployments of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology, which in the future may help to expand their coverage into areas where extending via HFC could be more troublesome.

It’s of course worth remembering that the top speeds of DOCSIS 3.1 aren’t really intended for domestic users and you’d probably be more likely to see this being introduced at a speed of around 500-600Mbps, which would no doubt be accompanied by yet another new batch of cable router/modems (SuperHub 4 perhaps, assuming we get another SuperHub 3 in 2015).