Wideband Modems: Hitting the Ramp

DOCSIS 3.0 is ready for liftoff.

Comcast earlier this week announced a target of rolling out 50-Mbps "wideband" service to 10 million homes passed in at least 10 markets in the next few months, and next year other major MSOs should debut their own DOCSIS 3.0-based services (see Comcast To Widen ‘Wideband’ To 10 Million Homes).

Vendors in 2008 will ship about 1.1 million DOCSIS 3.0-certified cable modems worldwide, representing 3% of the 37 million total number of units that are based on all versions of the spec, according to a re-forecast by In-Stat. The figures include eMTAs, embedded multimedia terminal adapters (a.k.a. voice modems).

In 2009, the firm expects 5.1 million wideband units, which is 12% of 43.5 million total shipped. (The research firm, like Multichannel News, is owned by Reed Business Information.)

"It’s a market that’s going to take off pretty quick," said In-Stat principal analyst Mike Paxton.

After just a bit of a hiccup. 

Paxton originally expected 1.7 million DOCSIS 3.0 modems to go out in 2008. He revised the estimate after CableLabs certification took a few months longer than expected. The first 3.0 CMTSs were qualified in December 2007, but the modems took until this past May.