Living up to conditions imposed upon it by the New York State Public Service Commission when it purchased Cablevision earlier this year, Altice USA has rolled out its $14.99-a-month 30 Mbps broadband services the erstwhile Cablevision’s Tri-State footprint.
Available under the “Optimum” brand—what Altice USA now calls anything related to Cablevision—Economy Internet will be targeted to seniors and low-income families receiving federal assistance, a number Altice estimates to be around 600,000.
RELATED: Altice shuns DOCSIS 3.1, sets ambitious 5-year FTTH deployment plan
Altice launched the product Wednesday with an event in the Bronx, featuring actor John Leguizamo, Altice USA Co-President and COO Hakim Boubazine and New York City Council member Vanessa Gibson.
Altice’s move comes after Charter Communications just announced its own $14.99-a-month 30-meg service, that tied to its purchases of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.
Altice USA also announced Wednesday that it will bypass DOCSIS 3.1 upgrades and instead deliver gigabit-speed service via fiber-to-the-home.
Speaking to Multichannel News, SNL Kagan cable networking analyst Jeff Heynen said Altice is in a “unique” position to launch such an FTTH service, given the copious fiber underpinning the legacy Cablevision asset.
However, in an interview with FierceCable, a CTO of another cable operator said Cablevision’s HFC network might have required too much upgrading to make transitioning DOCSIS 3.1 cost-effective relative to fiber.