DOCSIS 3.1 capability looks set to achieve approximately 9 million households by 2017.
ABI research says this represents slightly more than 1% of total fixed broadband subscriptions. “Technology vendors like Sagemcom, Technicolor and Teleste already have commercial DOCSIS 3.1 solutions available in the market, which has seen strong response in the Western European region,” says Michael Inouye, Principal Analyst at ABI Research.
In Europe DOCSIS 3.1 is being driven by the combination of numerous trials of the new standard and heavy competition from established telcos and new networks.
“European operators like Altice, TDC and Telenet likewise made inroads into preparing their networks for the launch of DOCSIS 3.1 in 2016,” adds Sam Rosen, managing director and vice president at ABI Research. “Ultimately, in instances in which corporations and homes already installed cable, it is more economical to upgrade cable services than make the switch to fiber, which gives DOCSIS 3.1 a definite advantage in the market space. Thinking ahead, enhanced deployments of ultra-broadband networks could pave the way for cable operators to migrate to a pure IPTV over DOCSIS network, abandoning legacy broadcast QAM technology. However, no major operator is publically investigating that approach.”
The findings are part of ABI Research’s Set-Top Box and Home Gateway Service, which includes research reports, market data, insights and competitive assessments.
