This was a big week for broadband. The combined news of growth in HD, FTTH, Multimedia-over-Coax (MoCA) technology and DOCSIS 3.0 deployments shows just how important broadband infrastructure has become. Sure, the financial markets may knock things back a bit, but our growing dependence on broadband suggests that the industry isn’t likely to slow to a crawl. We have too much riding – literally – on our broadband pipes.
More HD
According to research firm iSuppli, shipments of HDTVs shot past shipments of standard-def televisions in 2008. The forecast is for HDTV shipments to increase to 241.2 million by 2012.
More Fiber
Fiber is growing as a share of broadband access technologies around the world, according to the latest report from the OECD (via GigaOM). Both Japan and Korea have more fiber-based broadband connections than anything else, 45% and 39% respectively. In the US, 3% of connections are fiber-to-the-home.
More MoCA
Broadcom is getting in on the MoCA game with integration of the technology into its latest modem, router and set-top chipsets. Verizon currently uses MoCA for its multi-room DVR service. Will more operators finally start offering in-home TV networking? Broadcom seems to be betting on it.
More DOCSIS 3.0
Comcast made a big splash this week by extending its DOCSIS 3.0 deployments into Boston and Philadelphia. With the technology comes a new tier of service: 50 Mbps downstream and 10 Mbps upstream.
Filed under: DOCSIS 3.0, DVR, Fiber, HDTV, Internet, Networks | 3 Comments »

