Mediacom Communications has expanded its DOCSIS 3.0 rollout to nine additional markets, reaching just over 25% of its subscriber base with a 50-Mbps downstream service, on the heels of the operator's 105-Mbps service launch in two small communities.
"It's a great competitive edge and an opportunity for Mediacom to have the best connection in a given market," said Dan Templin, group vice president of strategic marketing and product development.
The operator last month launched the Ultra 105 tier -- at 105 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up, billed as the fastest residential broadband in the United States -- in Waterloo, Iowa, and Dagsboro, Del., priced for first 12 months at $149.95 per month.
Since then, Mediacom's Ultra 50 tier (50 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up) has been launched in Waterloo and Dagsboro and nine additional markets: Charleston and Moline, Ill.; Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Iowa; Mound, Minn.; Gulf Breeze and Milton, Fla.; and Columbia and Springfield, Mo. Pricing for the first 12 months is $99.95 per month.
In total, the Ultra 50 service is available to approximately 25% of Mediacom's existing high-speed Internet subs, meaning about 191,000 out its 765,000 broadband customers would be able to upgrade to Ultra.
In 2010, Mediacom expects to bring DOCSIS 3.0 to another 25% of its footprint to be able to offer 50-Mbps service to roughly half its customers, Templin said. In addition, the MSO in March plans to introduce a 50-Mbps service for business customers, Mediacom's first commercial offering.
"With some pretty smart investment in our network we have the capacity to be a market leader with the DOCSIS 3.0 technology," Templin said. "We're showing that Middle America doesn't have to be trailing larger urban markets."
Mediacom is using Cisco Systems' DOCSIS 3.0-compliant cable modem termination system (CMTS) and cable modem equipment.
The challenge for cable operator at this point, according to Templin, is finding wireless routers capable of handling download speeds greater than 50 Mbps. "The CE manufacturers haven't kept pace with this generation of speeds," he said. "The gating factor is the consumer's equipment and their devices."