Gigabit Internet has been slow to spread across the United States for a number of reasons, the biggest of which is how expensive it is for Internet providers to upgrade their existing infrastructure. Broadcom and STMicroelectronics want to solve this problem with some new tools that will make it much easier for Internet providers to provide gigabit Internet speeds on their existing copper and cable networks, meaning they won’t have to spend millions or even billion to upgrade.
Chipset vendors such as Broadcom and STMicroelectronics have launched products that’ll make it possible to offer gigabit speeds over fiber as well as over copper and cable networks. Broadband operators are already offering gigabit speeds over fiber, but the development of new technologies will help make super fast broadband networks more common during the next couple of years. STMicroelectronics (ST) this week announced its DOCSIS 3.1 chipset, code-named Barcelona, which goes into home cable modems and gateways. DOCSIS 3.1 will enable higher speeds at a larger scale and more cost effectively, which could help convince cable companies to roll out faster networks. It’s difficult to predict what speeds users will end up getting, but the maximum capacity is 10G bps downstream and 1G bps upstream. Barcelona, or STiD325, is currently available in small numbers to some of ST’s larger customers, according to the company, which didn’t say when the first products based on it would arrive. However, Comcast revealed two weeks ago it would at least start testing DOCSIS 3.1 during the fourth quarter. Company CEO Brian Roberts said the technology “will be a quantum leap forward” during its second-quarter earnings conference call.
