Videotron Launches Next-Gen DOCSIS

Having already launched its Giga Fibre Hybrid Internet service with speeds of up to 940 Mbit/s, Canadian cable operator Videotron has started to roll out DOCSIS 3.1 on its network. D3.1 will eventually deliver lightning-fast download speeds of up to 10 Gbit/s with 1Gbit/s uploads.

"We are announcing a very important and exciting development today," said Manon Brouillette, president and CEO of Videotron Ltd. . "With this deployment, we are laying the first stones in the foundations of the Internet of the future. We will be able to offer better Internet access service that meets the growing speed and bandwidth needs of our customers, who are watching more and more HD and UHD videos and adopting the cloud, the Internet of Things, augmented reality and virtual reality."

We've asked Videotron for some clarification on its upgrade timeline, initial speeds and price points and will update this article when we get a response.

DOCSIS 3.1 seems to be the flavor of the moment with other MSOs also rolling out faster services over HFC (hybrid fiber-coax) networks. Last week RCN Corp. announced gigabit speeds across Washington D.C. after upgrades in Chicago and New York City.

Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), the biggest US cable operator, has rolled out gigabit Internet speeds using DOCSIS 3.1 in Atlanta, Nashville, Detroit and Chicago so far, with plans to launch in Miami before the end of the year and a slew of other markets in 2017. (See Gigabites: Comcast Doubles Down on D3.1.)

Last month Virgin Media Inc. (Nasdaq: VMED) also said that it would begin rolling out 3.1 over the course of 18 months across the UK. This is good news for customers who might be better placed for a coax installation rather than waiting for copper upgrades that may or may not offer speeds up to 1 Gbit/s.(See Virgin Throws Down the Ultra Challenge.)

— Elliot Richards, Senior Editor, UBB2020