European Operators Accelerate
Preparations for DOCSIS 3.0

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By Fred Dawson

Fred Dawson is principal, Dawson Communications. Dawson Communications publishes the newsletter ScreenPlays and provides consulting and writing services to service providers, suppliers and publications in the broadband sector.

European cable operators' preparations for transition to DOCSIS 3.0 have accelerated dramatically over the past several months, driven in part by the sudden emergence of fiber-based competition in some areas and, more generally, by the growing sense of opportunity associated with IP-based video services.

Leading the charge, in terms of actual commercial deployments, French MSO Numericable has already launched 100 megabit-per-second broadband service in 10 cities with plans calling for expansion to nine million households by year's end, according to industry sources. Numericable, like many other MSOs, is tight-lipped about its strategy, owing to competitive concerns, but vendors have at least won agreement from Numericable and a handful of other customers to publicize some aspects of their plans.

Based on these accounts, the level of experimentation with channel bonding and other aspects of DOCSIS 3.0, including IP version 6.0 and modular cable modem termination system (M-CMTS) architecture, is widespread across multiple countries. While competitive conditions vary greatly from one country to the next, operators generally have concluded the prudent thing to do is to gain experience with channel bonding, commonly referred to as channel bonding, in advance of anticipated certification of EuroDOCSIS 3.0 equipment some time in 2008.

Officials at UPC, Europe's largest operator, won't go into details, but they acknowledge they are working with various vendors with testing of pre-DOCSIS 3.0 channel bonding solutions so as to get a running start on deployments when certified equipment is ready and market conditions are right for moving ahead. In a demonstration with Cisco Systems last fall, UPC showed a channel bonding solution delivering 120 megabits per second, including high-definition video services to the television via a wideband cable modem and next-generation set-top box.

Much of the channel bonding planning in Europe is driven by anticipation that Web video content will eat up ever more bandwidth, creating a problem for bandwidth-limited DSL providers and an opportunity for “ultra broadband” capable MSOs. “We are going to hit the wall on bandwidth usage and consumption,” acknowledges Michael Fries, president and COO of Liberty Global, the company that owns UPC. “When we go from 8 to 20 megabits, it gets used up over night, and as applications and services develop that are, in particular, video based, there's going to be a bottleneck.”

Similar comments can be heard across the European cable footprint. “We're seeing substantial increases in the amount of bandwidth that subscribers are consuming and want to have the infrastructure in place to offer services that perfectly meet each user's needs,” says Stefan van Dijk, manager of network technology at Multikabel, the fourth-largest MSO in the Netherlands. Multikabel recently ordered next-generation DOCSIS equipment from BigBand as part of its evaluation process in the runup to rollout of DOCSIS 3.0.

In Austria, the nation's second largest cable company, LiWest Kabelmedien GmbH, is evaluating the BigBand gear with an eye on the commercial market as well as new IPTV services, says Hubert Riedle, head of telecom service at LiWest. Wideband is a cost-effective way to go for cable, because it reuses “most of the network infrastructure we already have in place,” he notes.

In most places operators say their current ability to go to about 20 mbps as the top tier in best-effort broadband is sufficient to meet the competitive challenges posed by telcos and “unbundlers” who are using telco loop to deliver broadband services. In fact, notes Kevin Baughan, head of technical strategy at UK MSO Virgin Media, cable enjoys a big advantage over a 20-meg DSL competitor because the data rates drop off precipitously over ADSL2+ and VDSL beyond the 9,000-foot loop distance.

“We can comfortably operate our current DOCSIS services without channel bonding up to 20 mbps, and we don't have problems with distances the way DSL does,” Baughan says. “So 20 meg with full coverage is very adequate against our competitors, and we don't see any aggressive rollouts yet with next-gen DSL.”

Nonetheless, Virgin Media is intent on replacing its current DOCSIS infrastructure with DOCSIS 3.0. What's motivating Virgin in one of the more aggressive preparations underway for DOCSIS 3.0 is the opportunity to deliver appealing applications that will separate it from its competitors.

“We're not preparing for wideband from the perspective of it being a competitive response to others' broadband speeds,” Baughan notes. “For us it's about the value of our services to customers and being in a leadership position.”

Virgin is in the midst of a combination technical and market trial with channel bonding technology supplied by Arris that delivers what it calls “Ultra-Fast Broadband” to about 200 users in Kent. So far, the trial has focused on speed, with four-channel bonding supporting delivery at an aggregated rate of about 200 mbps to the service area with a per-user service rate of 50 mbps. “We've learned a few things about the technology,” Baughan says. “We weren't expecting any dramatic issues, and there haven't been any.”

At press time, the company was preparing to expand the trial to provide IP multicast video in standard and high definition formats. Baughan says one of the two key opportunities he sees for wideband-enabled applications has to do with the ability to leverage IP infrastructure to deliver niche services.

“We already have video on demand and HDTV, so we're not under pressure to use IP infrastructure to deliver these types of services,” he says. “But what's interesting is whether we can add value through alternative delivery formats. I can imagine, for example, using the DOCSIS 3.0 multicast capability to deliver live events which might have a strong appeal to a certain segment of our audience but may not have broad enough audience appeal to be delivered over our TV channels.”

Delivered in IP mode, such programming would be available not only to the PC but also to the TV, which would give it added appeal to the people drawn to the music, sporting or other events offered over the DOCSIS link. “Another part of the architecture of the trial is trying to find out how to successfully get [IP] service to the TV,” Baughan notes.

Intriguingly, the company is investigating the possibility of using plastic optical fiber as a conduit for delivering high-bandwidth content from the cable modem to the set-top box. “People don't want more wires running through their homes,” Baughan says, “but powerline and wireless options may not be sufficiently robust to support something like HD service over the home network.” However, he adds, “plastic fiber, being so thin, can be discreetly laid around the home in a less disruptive fashion. We think this is a very important area to explore.”

The bandwidth limitations of the existing home networks in Virgin's service areas lead to the other key area of opportunity Baughan sees for new applications over DOCSIS 3.0. “Most of our customers' home networks don't support data rates over 20 mbps,” he says. “So the burst speed of the access network is as good as or better than the home networks now and will be much better as we move to wideband.”

This means the cable company has an opportunity to provide network-based storage and applications that would be as effective as any connected directly to the home network, he suggests. These could be entertainment or work-related applications, including applications that might be offered by third-party providers and hosted on the Virgin Network. “The burst speed of the access network matching or exceeding the burst speed of the home network creates new opportunities for us,” he says.

While Virgin is exploring channel bonding in the pre-DOCSIS 3.0 phase with the intention of replacing existing DOCSIS infrastructure with the new 3.0 system once certification is complete, there's a chance the company will expand the pilot to a larger customer base this year without waiting for certification. As Charles Cheevers, CTO for Arris's European operation notes, the DOCSIS 2.0 Arris CMTS Virgin is using for its pilot, which has been upgraded via software to support channel bonding, can be upgraded to support DOCSIS 3.0 once the certification process is completed.

As a result, the operator can avoid stranding capital with regard to any investment it makes to expand the pilot beyond one CMTS. And the wideband modems deployed now will continue to operate with the Arris platform once the CMTSs are upgraded to full compliance, Cheevers adds.

Various vendors are taking different approaches to their pre-DOCSIS 3.0 solutions, but most are doing so with the message that any equipment deployed from here on will not be stranded later. This gives operators the flexibility to do trials now and, if certification is delayed beyond a timeline they're comfortable with, to proceed to large-scale deployments on pre-DOCSIS 3.0 equipment until certified gear is ready. "By end of year there will be more of a pull to deploy pre-3.0 solutions,” Cheevers says. “If certification comes quickly in 2008, this gear will be used for relatively short trials. But if certification takes longer, our FlexPath [channel-bonding] solution can be deployed on larger scales without operators having to worry about stranding cap ex.”

“The time scale [on transition to certified equipment] is hard to judge at this point,” Baughan says. “We'd like to think that we'll be in a position sometime in 2008 to roll out full standard-compliant infrastructure. But this year is about the pilot project.”

Norway MSO Get, formerly a property of UPC and now privately held, has already begun the process of replacing existing DOCSIS 2.0 gear with the new pre-certification DOCSIS 3.0 platform from Cisco Systems. “We have a complete upgrade path to the final standard, but, because DOCSIS 3.0 is compatible with 2.0, we can deploy the Cisco platform now and move to wideband whenever we're ready,” says Get CTO Rolf Bive. Just what the channel bonding strategy will be for Get, Norway's largest cable operator, is still under discussion, including whether to go beyond four-channel bonding in order to provide service groups with sufficient throughput to support a full 100 mbps service to each end user. But Bive makes clear the thrust is toward new applications rather than any need to outdo competitors.

“We're not doing this to counter any immediate threat,” Bive says. “We're developing our wideband strategy to serve market needs and remain a leading provider.”

Indeed, the operator already offers a premium 26 mbps broadband service, with 8 mbps upstream, over its existing DOCSIS 2.0 infrastructure. But there's going to be a need for ever more bandwidth, Bive says. “Our ability to go to high-capacity wideband services will be a key differentiator between us and DSL players in the market,” he notes. “More and more upstream, especially, is a real knife in the back of those guys." The key question for Get is what the new service strategy will be as an increasing amount of TV content becomes available in IP mode. The intention is to use both the IP and the traditional DVB-C platforms to deliver TV services in the near term but to eventually migrate to all-IP over MPEG-4.

“We're working heavily on business concepts,” Bive says, noting the company will offer IP video services to the TV via either standalone IP set-tops or hybrid IP/MPEG-2 models. “We won't just offer traditional VOD over this path,” he says. “We'll also be aggregating Web content, like the 'Best of YouTube,' mixing that with traditional movies and the video library from broadcasters.”

Bive adds: “We intend to have the new Cisco equipment in place in some regions by the end of the year and to begin offering new services in those areas in the first quarter of '08. We want to be fully rolled out by mid '08.”

As many operators gear up for DOCSIS 3.0 with an eye primarily on the applications opportunities, others like Numericable are under more immediate competitive pressures to go to higher speeds. In France the Iliad Group's Free, an independent operator, is set to become the first French broadband provider to deploy an all-optical network.

Free, with over two million broadband subscribers on unbundled DSL loop, has chosen a switched point-to-point Ethernet infrastructure to deliver 50 megabit-per-second or higher speed services to each household. Its first-phase plans call for connecting more than two million people in Paris to broadband service offering HD IPTV, video on demand and a variety of triple-play services.

neuf cegetel, another broadband provider, is on the fiber bandwagon as well with plans to reach 100,000 homes passed by fiber in Paris this year and to connect one million homes within the next two years. Already neuf is offering fiber-based access to some Paris households at 29.90 euros per month.

For its part Numericable, which is using Cisco's DOCSIS gear, is one-upping these aggressive 50-mbps offerings with a 100-mbps service priced at 29 euros plus 149 euros to buy the modem, notes Jim Scott, Cisco's operations director for cable in Europe. “The key was not just speed, but speed at a price that the consumer will pay,” Scott says. “Numericable has been very clever in that they've offered a number of services below that topline speed to get consumers to buy in and then move up that ladder.”

Cisco, as a supplier of fiber equipment to Free and many other providers, is in a good position to see what's happening on all sides of the broadband divide. “We're seeing a lot more fiber deployments either underway or in the planning stages across Europe,” Scott says. “This has become an immediate driver to a lot of new DOCSIS 3.0 strategies on the part of MSOs.”

Cable operators, by moving quickly ahead of the standard certification process, can avoid being second to market with super high-speed services, Scott notes. “Free doesn't yet have a significant [fiber-to-the-home] footprint,” he notes. “It's going to take 12 months for them to roll out, and it's taking a huge investment. Cable operators are putting themselves in a position where they can press the button on offering wideband fairly quickly. We're providing equipment to a lot of operators who are preparing to upgrade plant and offer new services over DOCSIS 3.0. Many have done lab testing and many are doing live pilots, with many more will be coming on line before the end of the year.”

All of this is happening very quickly, putting European MSOs on a much faster track to channel bonding than it appeared they were on earlier this year. Fortunately, a series of interoperability tests among DOCSIS 3.0 vendors sponsored by CableLabs in advance of the certification process is providing operators the comfort level to proceed with deployments without worrying whether equipment will be interoperable, notes Michael Cookish, director for product management at Motorola Connected Home.

“There will have been three interop testing events sponsored by CableLabs by the time qualifications begin in October,” Cookish says, citing the anticipated date for the start of CableLabs' DOCSIS 3.0 certification process. “This is important not only for vendors but also for CableLabs to refine definitions in the specifications.”

Motorola has been supplying a bonded-channel solution for early adopters, especially in Asia, and now is moving to a DOCSIS 3.0-compliant platform slated for commercial availability in mid '07. “Every single customer we have wants to get channel bonding into their labs and at least some kind of trial underway so they have something available to go to market with when they need it,” Cookish says.

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