Comcast has demoed its cable network running at up to 1Gbps

US cable operator Comcast, has demonstrated a broadband network running at 1Gbps on the downlink. The company’s chief executive officer Brian L. Roberts gave the demo at the National Cable & Telecoms Association (NCTA) 2011 show in Chicago, by downloading 23 episodes of the US television show 30 Rock, representing nine hours of content, in around 90 seconds.

“This demonstration of extreme 1Gbps speed on our network is another leap forward in innovation, and we’re excited to work with developers to see what amazing new applications could take advantage of the next evolution of broadband,” Roberts said.

The high speeds were achieved by bonding 32 channels together over the company’s DOCSIS network. The cable company’s DOCSIS 3.0 network currently offers subscribers a maximum of 105Mbps download .

At the same time as the speed demo, Roberts also showed off the companies new cable TV interface dubbed “Xcalibur”, which he said was entirely cloud-based.

Tony Werner, executive vice president and chief technology officer for Comcast, said in a blog post that “Today, Comcast offers Internet speeds up to 105 Mbps — and we’ve been increasing speeds for our customers every year since we launched in 2002 with just 1.5 Mbps of speed. We deliver more speed to more homes than any other ISP in America, and we’ll keep up that pace as the Internet continues to evolve.”

No timescale was given as to when 1Gbps speeds would be made available to US consumers.

Earlier at the NCTA show cable equipment supplier Arris demoed a cable network operating as fast as 4.5Gpbs on the downlink, showing the potential of HFC networks.

FCC has teeth pulled in net neutrality debate

The ongoing dispute over net neutrality was dealt a serious blow this week as a US federal court ruled that the FCC does not have the authority to force all service providers to treat internet traffic the same.

The case, which was decided this week, had been running since 2007, when US communications watchdog, the FCC, took cable network operator Comcast to task for interfering with its customers’ use of peer to peer networking technologies.

Comcast complained to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, arguing that the FCC failed, “to justify exercising jurisdiction over its network management practices.” That argument was this week upheld by the court, meaning that the FCC cannot force a service provider to treat all traffic travelling over its network with equal weighting.

The main concern here is that such a ruling paves the way for operators to charge a premium to carry services, or relegate them to the ‘slow lane’ of the internet. In reality however, it probably means that the net neutrality debate will continue to rumble on down other avenues.

The FCC will fight back to get its way, as it noted in a statement in response to the ruling: “The Court in no way disagreed with the importance of preserving a free and open Internet; nor did it close the door to other methods for achieving this important end.”

It’s also worth bearing in mind that the US regulatory regime is quite different to rest of world and net neutrality is more contentious in US because there is less competition for broadband. Most consumers only have a choice of two providers – a national provider and a regional competitor, so the FCC is under more pressure to act on such issues.

FCC commissioner Michael Copps added a bit of drama to the situation by calling the decision, “Not just a blow to the FCC—it’s a blow to all Americans who rely on an open Internet that serves all comers without discrimination…The only way the Commission can make lemonade out of this lemon of a decision is to do now what should have been done years ago: treat broadband as the telecommunications service that it is.”

Comcast launches WiMAX service

US cable carrier Comcast, one of the backers of WiMAX operation Clearwire, has announced plans to launch its own wireless broadband service under the High-Speed 2go brand.

Comcast this week launched WiMAX-based services using Clearwire’s network in Portland, Oregon, bundling the offering with its fixed line internet, phone and television products.

The cableco is selling two different data cards and service plans: the Metro service uses a WiMAX-only data card and for $49.99 includes 12Mbps fixed line internet, a wifi router and 4Mbps download speeds over the wireless network.

For an additional $20 per month, consumers can upgrade to the Nationwide service that includes the same services plus nationwide 3G mobile network access on Sprint’s 3G network. Existing triple play customers can add WiMAX to their package from $30 per month.

Comcast was one of the original investors in the ‘new’ Clearwire, and together with Intel, Time Warner Cable, Google and Bright House Networks injected $3.2bn in exchange for equity in the WiMAX operator.

Clearwire said it anticipates that cash spend for 2009 will be between $1.5bn and $1.9bn, while analysts at JP Morgan recently estimated that Clearwire faces a $2bn-$2.3bn funding gap, which will likely require tapping the credit markets in 2010, if not before.

As expected, Clearwire shareholders on Thursday approved the ‘new’ Clearwire joint venture. Comprising Sprint Nextel (51 per cent) and Clearwire (27 per cent) – with the remaining equity held by Intel, Google, TimeWarner Cable, Comcast and Bright House Networks – the new company has ambitious plans to roll out mobile WIMAX across the US.

What was surely less expected was the extent of negative reaction to the deal by the financial markets. Clearwire’s share price fell by a massive 33 per cent to $1.91 during yesterday’s trading, while Sprint Nextel’s share price slumped by 27 per cent to $1.37.

The share price declines of both Clearwire and Sprint Nextel far exceeded the average share price falls during yesterday’s trading. The New York Stock Exchange, where Sprint Nextel is listed, fell ‘only’ by 10.5 percent, while Nasdaq, Clearwire’s stock exchange, dropped by 7.5 per cent.

Yet those involved in the new JV, as you would expect, are upbeat. “Today, our shareholders have taken a transformative step toward enabling an entirely new mobile internet experience for consumers and businesses across the country,” Clearwire CEO Benjamin Wolff, said in a statement. “With an unmatched spectrum portfolio, a next generation all IP network, an ever-expanding ecosystem of mobile 4G devices, and the backing of some of the most innovative communications, entertainment and technology companies in the world, Clearwire is ready to redefine mobile internet services in the US.”

Clearwire’s approval of the new JV, although it says there are still some administrative details to clear up before the transaction can go ahead – expected to be completed by the year end – appears to be the last step on a long road for WiMAX supporters looking for nationwide US rollout.

Back in May 2008, Google, Intel and three US cable companies, pledged a total of  $3.2bn into new Clearwire, which appeared to put it the JV on a much more solid financial footing. And on 4 November, FCC approved the new company, despite protests by AT&T.

Nevertheless, IPCS, a Sprint Nextel affiliate, still looks determined to block the new Clearwire from operating in the regions where it has services up and running.

The rumour that US cable giants, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, might invest as much as $1.5bn in a joint venture to resurrect the nationwide mobile WiMAX ambitions of Sprint and Clearwire is one more bit of grist that can be added to the anti-WiMAX mill. Although such a move may sound positive for WiMAX supporters at face value, it arguably underlines a perception that nationwide mobile WiMAX in the US (which would dramatically boost the economies of scale for 802.16e kit if it went ahead) is in trouble and needs to be rescued.

And if the joint venture is confirmed, then a story could surely be spun that because there are so many members in the JV (Google and Intel were also rumoured to be part of the rescue package) this will inevitably expose strategic differences and lead to network rollout delays. In turn, this would shorten any time-to-market advantage mobile WiMAX would have before LTE network rollout by AT&T and Verizon, which is pencilled in for 2010.

If no JV materialises, then WiMAX detractors would have even more justification to rub their hands in glee. Looking at the recent financial results of Sprint and Clearwire (a net loss of $29.5bn and an Ebitda loss of $134m respectively during Q407), it is highly unlikely they have the capital resources to fund nationwide mobile WiMAX rollout, even in a partnership together. Sprint Nextel estimates that the capex bill for nationwide mobile WiMAX across the US is a hefty $5bn.

The results of 700MHz auction in the US were also, arguably, a disappointment for WiMAX supporters; the WiMAX Forum is already committed to developing TDD and FDD profiles for 802.16e in this frequency band. The best-case scenario for WiMAX enthusiasts (albeit an unlikely one), was surely for a new nationwide entrant to emerge from the auction. Instead, it was the old guard and confirmed LTE supporters, AT&T and Verizon, which scooped up much of the 700MHz spectrum. Admittedly, there were 99 other licence winners in the auction and some of these, particularly the rural telcos, may indeed opt for mobile WiMAX. If that did happen, however, it would still be hard to describe 700MHz mobile WiMAX as anything other than a niche mobile broadband technology in the US.

But what surely would have caused the biggest whoops of delight in our hypothetical anti-WiMAX PR agency are the remarks made by Garth Freeman, CEO of Buzz broadband, an Australian ISP. He described WiMAX a “disaster” and criticised the technology’s poor non-line of sight capabilities and high latency times (which, Freeman claimed, made its VoIP service unusable).

For the sake of balance, however, it was right that Airspan Networks (WiMAX kit supplier to Buzz) made a swift rebuttal to Freeman’s claims. Declan Byrne, CMO of Airspan, called Freeman’s allegations “a distraction to the WiMAX industry” and if the problems Buzz has experienced can indeed be traced back to the Australian ISP’s own network as opposed to Airspan’s WiMAX kit, as Byrne claims and seems most likely as no other operators, at least not openly, have come out with similar WiMAX disaster stories of their own, then Freeman’s remarks were clearly an unfair swipe at the WiMAX community.

It would also be unfair to judge WiMAX on what happens in the US alone, particularly as the opportunity in emerging markets look so substantial. The Indian government in particular has been a strong supporter of WiMAX to meet its broadband subscriber targets (set in 2005) of 20 million broadband subscribers by 2010. Moreover, it has already reserved 20MHz of spectrum for state-owned BSNL in the 2.5GHz frequency band, and has plans to auction three more WIMAX 2.5GHz licences this year with 10MHz channels set aside for each winner.

It is also worth pointing out that BSNL’s plans to expand WiMAX coverage to 200 million of India’s population within three years would eclipse Sprint Nextel’s proposed nationwide mobile WiMAX network.

The decision taken by the ITU at last year’s World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-07) to allocate large chunks of the 700MHz band to IMT services in Asia and the Americas (WiMAX is already designated as an IMT service by the ITU) is another fillip for the WiMAX camp. And, promisingly, the Indian government actually approached the WiMAX Forum last year to develop a 700MHz profile.

While there are still pressing challenges for the WiMAX community, not least in releasing certified 802.16e products as soon as possible, there is a bigger picture to look at than the US.