Swiss cable operators look to DOCSIS 3.0 and open-access FTTH

Posted by Lucy Berridge Saturday, August 15th, 2009

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As Swisscom continues to thrash out cooperation agreements on the rollout of fiber-to-the-home with a number of utility companies, three cable operators are preparing DOCSIS 3.0 launches, and two are trialing services via FTTH.

The largest operator Cablecom is about to put its CHF1 billion (US$936 million) investment in its DOCSIS 3.0 upgrade to the commercial test, while Finecom/Besonet and Citycable, a subsidiary of the Lausanne utility company, will also launch services based on DOCSIS 3.0 this fall.

Switzerland is highly cabled: networks pass about 93% of Switzerland’s 4.1 million homes and there were 2.9 million cable TV customers at end-1Q09. Cablecom’s network alone passes 1.9 million homes, 72% of which are broadband-enabled

Two cable companies, Finecom and GGA Maur, are also planning to offer their triple-play via open-access FTTH networks. GGA Maur will introduce services via Zurinet from September and Finecom is running trials on EWB’s pilot network in Berne. This is a rare move in Europe to date: While cable operators’ analog TV services are available via muni-nets in Sweden and the Netherlands, few companies have moved to providing a full triple-play.

Cablecom, which has so far upgraded over one million homes to DOCSIS 3.0, has said in the past it might rent capacity on FTTH networks to expand into new areas on a case-by-case basis though a recent press report suggests it does not intend to buy or lease fiber capacity.

Insiders in the cable industry are divided on FTTH. Some are in favor of the development of open-access models to enable them to extend the reach of their services. Others are determinedly sticking by their HFC networks…though that’s not to say that in future they might not bring the fiber they’ve deployed for DOCSIS 3.0 right into the home. Cable operators have also expressed some skepticism over whether or not the open-access networks will attract enough providers offering brilliant new products to enable the backers to recoup their investments, or whether open-access networks will only offer more of the same.

FTTH will only really take off once it is clear how or whether the cooperation agreements between Swisscom and the utilities will work. End-2009 DOCSIS 3.0 coverage may not match that of Swisscom’s VDSL network, available to 75% of the population, but the cable operators will gain a head-start over FTTH in coverage terms. However whether customers view the products they launch round DOCSIS 3.0 as innovative or just more of the same remains to be seen.