Comcast CEO Brian Roberts showed off the next-generation cable broadband technology on Thursday, which could deliver data at over 1 gigabit per second to our home. Roberts showed a live 11-mile cable network and downloaded 23 episodes of 30 Rock in 1 minutes and 39 seconds, touting it as the future of wireline broadband.The news of Comcast showing the demo came out yesterday.
Roberts, who made the presentation at The Cable Show in Chicago, also added that broadband — along with Wi-Fi — is the future, as multiple devices would need a lot more bandwidth to watch television. Comcast is the largest broadband provider in the U.S. “Our broadband sales have been better. Our revenue per customer has gone up as we have increased speeds and better broadband,” said Roberts. “The gap has widened with other networks.”
The cable industry is coming under increased pressure from fiber-based network providers who have the advantage of brand new networks with higher capacities. The latest version of DOCSIS on which Comcast demo was based shows that cable guys aren’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. It’s also facing pressure from faster wireless speeds from ISPs deploying LTE. Some customers may look at those speeds and decide to dump their wireline networks, which means cable has to offer both faster wireline networks, but also offer customers the convenience of faster wireless networks for customers outside the home.
Hence, Roberts is extolling the virtues of Wi-Fi and calling it a game changer. “In 2020, we will want more bits in and out of our homes and we will build that, and we are confident that they will come,” Roberts added.
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