Report: Time Warner Cable says DOCSIS 3.1 will meet Los Angeles' 1-Gig goal

Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) is confident that DOCSIS 3.1 technology will be able to meet Los Angeles' 1-Gbps goal the city issued in a request for participants (RFP) for its CityLinkLA project.

In a Multichannel News report, TWC said that by using DOCSIS 3.1 technology it could deliver 1 Gbps speeds throughout the entire city versus certain neighborhoods. DOCSIS 3.1, which the cable industry has branded under its "Gigasphere" name, is designed to enable cable operators to deliver gigabit speed services on their existing hybrid fiber coax (HFC) networks.

"As Gigasphere technology is introduced, we are well-positioned to deliver residential Internet speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second throughout our entire LA footprint--not just in a few neighborhoods--just as we said we would when we participated in the City's RFI process," TWC said.

News of TWC's interest in Los Angeles' proposed network should not be that much of a surprise as the cable MSO said last July that it was participating in a request for information (RFI) focused on delivering 1 Gbps to a mix of L.A. residences, businesses and city government buildings.

On Friday, the Los Angeles City Council approved an RFP to identify what service providers would be a good fit to deploy a 1 Gbps-capable network that could serve the city's residences and local businesses. Interested parties have to agree to provide an additional free 5 Mbps Wi-Fi and wireline service and be able to complete the network build within the next five years.

Having completed its all-digital TWC Maxx upgrade in the city in 2014, TWC had already laid the foundation to handle the DOCSIS 3.1 standard. The TWC Maxx upgrade will enable the company to deliver a number of higher speed tiers, including a 300 Mbps offering. It is also expanding its own Wi-Fi network.

TWC said that it wants to work with the city to learn "more about the process, which we can only assume will be fair and provide a level playing field for all service providers."

For more:
- Multichannel News has this article

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