UPC to roll out 120 Mbps high speed internet

IBC 2008 – AMSTERDAM. The Dutch cable TV operator UPC Netherlands will begin the commercial introduction of its so called UPC Fiber Power broadband access product, said CEO Diederik Karsten during a press briefing at the show. The new service will offer consumers high-speed internet up to 120Mbps, based on the EuroDOCSIS 3.0 standard.

UPC has said it is the first to deploy the new technology in Europe. “With the new product we offer far greater speeds that ADSL or VDSL, at least five times as fast.” UPC will use the Cisco EPC3000 EuroDOCSIS 3.0 modem, which it also demonstrated at the IBC show.

The cabler plans to roll out the product across its entire Dutch footprint during the next few months. Pricing is yet to be announced, though “we know our competitors are also listening,” said Karsten.

There will be two tiers: a 60 Mbps (6Mbps upstream) and a 120 Mbps version (12Mbps upstream), with the top tier retailing “well below €100 a month”. UPC also expects to offer the product to its customers in Austria and Switzerland (Cablecom) before the end of the year, with other countries following in 2009.

UPC Netherlands parent Liberty Global has said it already has experience with high speed access in Japan on the J:COM network, which introduced 160Mbps broadband services across all four of its operating regions. J:COM has added over 55,000 subscribers to its 160Mbps product since Q4 2007, and more than 25% of new subscribers are taking the product where it is available.

On the picture: UPC Netherlands CEO Diederik Karsten