Liberty Global is evaluating a new generation of its multimedia home gateway Horizon which will be Ultra HD/4K capable.
The box will be based on the new Virgin V6 box to be introduced by its UK subsidiary Virgin Media, Mark Giesbers, vice president video products at Liberty Global, told Broadband TV News at IBC 2016.
While this is a future project, the current focus is on upgrading the software on the existing Horizon boxes, for example through ongoing improvements of the user interface, stressed Giesbers. Horizon is currently installed in over two million households in nine markets in Europe.
A new generation of boxes will also be deployed on the connectivity side following the upgrade of Liberty Global’s networks to the DOCSIS 3.1 standard, said Pieter Vervoort, vice president connectivity products at Liberty Global. The current generation, DOCSIS 3.0-based Wi-Fi router Connect introduced in Q4 2015 is now installed in over 1.3 million households across 14 markets.
To increase the local Wi-Fi reach in customers’ households, a Connect Ethernet booster box will be introduced in January 2017, said Vervoort, adding that the Connect Powerline booster box currently available in the Netherlands and Belgium will also be rolled out to other countries across Liberty Global’s footprint in Europe.
In 40% of the cases customers need such an extender box to achieve full Wi-Fi coverage throughout their household, according to Vervoort.
