In some parts of the country cable is the way businesses chooses to go for broadband connectivity for a variety of reasons including price and availability. Generally the speeds available are dictated by DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) standard. These days that means speeds of around 1 Gbps under ideal conditions under the commonly used DOCSIS 3.0, and 10 Gbps for cablecos that can use the newer 3.1 standard that was released this year.
However, last week Huawei Technologies announced a prototype that extends the cable spectrum to 3 Ghz to get a 25 Gbps downstream rate . The company called it “a new milestone for coaxial cable technologies.”
There was no word on when the technology will be commercially available.
“To fully explore the potential of coaxial cables, Huawei has developed new technologies and extended the spectrum of the coaxial cable to 3 GHz for the first time,” the company said. “These technologies address the challenges brought by large attenuation, great slope, and severe data distortion in the event of bandwidth amplification. The DOCSIS 3.1 prototype, which is developed based on high-frequency bandwidth amplification and digital non-linear compensation technologies, supports a maximum downstream rate of 25 Gbps. Moreover, it is expected that, with the latest full-duplex self-interference cancellation technology, a symmetric upstream and downstream rate of 25 Gbps can be achieved. This result boosts the confidence of multiple system operators in reusing current coaxial cables to build Gigabit networks.”
Huawei said officials from Rogers Communications were among those that saw viewed the DOCSIS 3.1 prototype at last week’s SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2016 in Philadelphia,
“Huawei, relying on accumulated ultra-bandwidth technologies and the integrated platform that supports multi-media Gigabit access, has constantly been making innovations in coaxial cable technologies,” Jeff Wang, president of Huawei’s access network product line, said in a statement. “The release of the 25G DOCSIS 3.1 prototype will surely increase MSOs’ confidence in building Gigabit networks with existing coaxial cables.”
In June Huawei showcased what it says is the first 10G hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) integrated access platform to help cable operators achieve integrated network construction and IP-based video service transition.