Mediacom Communications plans to deploy DOCSIS 3.1 across its footprint. The company's entire network is scheduled to be gigabit-capable by the end of 2016. The network upgrade is based on Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) cBR-8 and Casa Systems C100G CCAP gear.
Mediacom plans to begin rolling out 500 Mbps and 1 Gbps Internet services on a market-by-market basis in the coming weeks. The company's new minimum entry level speed for residential customers will increase to 60 Mbps, and its current top offerings of 100 Mbps and 200 Mbps will continue to be available.
"Mediacom was founded on the principle that hard-working families in the smaller cities and towns in our nation's heartland deserved the same advanced communications services enjoyed in the largest metropolitan areas," said Mediacom's Founder and CEO Rocco B. Commisso. "Through our $8 billion of cumulative investments over the past 20 years in pursuit of that goal, we have enabled the communities where we operate to successfully bridge the digital divide."
The upgrade is part of a previously announced 3-year, $1 billion capital investment plan consisting entirely of private capital rather than federal subsidies.
"Unlike some other competitors who offer 1-Gig speeds only in select neighborhoods in their service areas, our 1-Gig service will be accessible to absolutely everyone within the reach of our network, regardless of the size, income-level or other demographics of their community," Commisso said.
JR Walden, Mediacom's CTO, said: "It has taken a lot of hard work, but less than 10 months from announcing Project Gigabit, we will have completed the upgrade of our entire broadband network to the Gigasphere platform. Deployment of this next-gen technology will considerably enhance the consumer experience today and lay the groundwork for multi-gig capabilities in the future. With our rapid and seamless transition to this new platform, we have set our communities on an accelerated path into the gigabit era."
In 2015, Mediacom deployed Casa's C100G in its Columbia and Jefferson City, MO, markets. Cisco introduced the cBR-8 in 2015.
Mediacom, the fifth largest cable operator in the United States, serves about 1.3 million homes and businesses across 22 states, primarily in smaller markets in the Midwest and Southeast.