A new technology standard that promises to deliver gigabit speeds is planned to be rolled out across Australia from 2017, NBN Co announced today.

NBN Co is set to become one of the first telecommunications companies in the world to introduce the high-speed cable technology, known as Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.1.

DOCSIS 3.1 supports download speeds of up to 10Gbps and up to 1Gbps upstream and by delivering data more efficiently can deliver up to 50% more data than is possible over current cable networks. Field trials of the technology will launch in the United States later this year.

More than three million homes and businesses in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and the Gold Coast are earmarked to receive the National Broadband Network over the Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) cables that currently deliver broadband and pay-TV services to Telstra and Optus customers.

In deals struck last December*, NBN Co will progressively take ownership of these cables and incorporate them into the National Broadband Network.

Making the announcement at Cable Congress 2015 in Brussels, NBN Co’s Chief Technology Officer, Dennis Steiger, said:

“NBN will utilise a network that is already deployed across millions of homes and businesses in Australia.  By re-architecting the ratio of homes to a node and the use of the latest technology underpinning DOCSIS 3.1, Australia’s HFC network will become one of the most state-of-the-art technologies used to deploy broadband services. 

“Effectively, this technology has the potential to offer speeds equivalent to what’s on offer by full fibre to the premises and up to 100 times faster (up to 10Gbps) than what is currently provided by today’s HFC network. 

“It’s the same philosophy that’s driving our entire multi-technology rollout. All the technologies we’re using have an upgrade path to deliver higher speeds and greater capacity. That’s good news for families and businesses.”

Kamalini Ganguly, Senior Analyst, Ovum said:

“With this announcement, NBN Co joins an elite group of multi-system operator (MSOs) like Comcast and Liberty Global who have committed to significant DOCSIS 3.1 upgrades of their HFC networks. The upgrade puts NBN Co on a path to offer Gigabit broadband services within a short period of time.

"Globally, we saw competition in 2014 leading to a big increase in the number of gigabit services being offered by FTTP service providers and we expect this momentum to continue in 2015."

DOCSIS 3.1 is a suite of technical specifications developed by industry consortium CableLabs and was introduced in October 2013. 

Media enquiries:

Frances Kearey
M: 0418 416 408
E: franceskearey@nbnco.com.au 

NBN Co Media Hotline
P: 02 9927 4200
E: media@nbnco.com.au 

Notes to editors:

• NBN Co’s objective is to ensure that by 2020:

o     all homes, businesses and communities across Australia can access high speed broadband;

o     8 million premises are connected to the NBN;

o     the company generates more than $4 billion of annual revenue;

o     less than the capped $29.5bn of government equity funding is used.

*The agreements with Telstra and Optus are subject to the satisfaction of a number of conditions precedent. 

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