Canada’s Videotron begins DOCSIS 3.1 deployment

Montreal-based Videotron has joined the handful of North American MSOs deploying DOCSIS 3.1.

Videotron introduced its $150-a-month DOCSIS 3.0-based 940 Mbps Giga Fibre Hybrid Internet service in July. It is now in the process of deploying DOCSIS 3.1 modems and conducting network upgrades. Once fully deployed, the DOCSIS 3.1 upgrade will allow 10 Gbps downstream speeds and 1 Gbps upstream, Videotron said, without discussing future pricing and packaging. 

“With this deployment, we are laying the first stones in the foundations of the internet of the future,” said Manon Brouillette, CEO and president of Videotron, in a statement. “We will be able to offer better Internet access service that meets the growing speed and bandwidth needs of our customers, who are watching more and more HD and UHD videos and adopting the cloud, the Internet of Things, augmented reality and virtual reality.”

RELATED: RCN expands DOCSIS 3.1-powered gigabit services to Washington, D.C., beats Comcast to market

Videotron follows a growing but still small list of North American MSOs that have begun to deploy the CableLabs DOCSIS 3.1 standard, which is designed to deliver multi-gigabit speeds over HFC (hybrid fiber-coax) networks. 

In the U.S., Comcast has been the most aggressive cable operator in deploy the network tech standard, with plans to have DOCSIS 3.1-enabled gigabit services in 15 cities by early 2017.

RCN, meanwhile, just announced DOCSIS 3.1-powered deployments in New York and Washington, D.C.

“We are proud to be one of the first operators in the world and the first in Canada to install this new technology, demonstrating once again our leadership in the Internet access market and our commitment to offering our customers state-of-the-art services at all times,” Brouillette added.