Cox goes for 1 Ghz

Privately-held cable operator, Cox Communications is quietly rolling out a 1 Ghz offering to its entire customer base, with a plan to reduce customer nodes from 650 to 250 homes.

Chris Bowick, Cox's senior vice president of engineering and chief technology officer, told a briefing session last week that Cox's 2010 plan included an increase of standard definition channels from 110 to 200-plus and HD from 8 to 100, while scaling back its analog channel count from 74 to 68, and boosting data bandwidth to 25 Megabits per second downstream, 4 Mbps upstream. Bowick did not say how much it will cost to move to 1 Gigahertz across Cox's markets, but according to OneTrack he said it was "not as expensive as you might think it would be" and "wouldn't be even close" to the $800 FiOS per home expense.

The 1 Gigahertz upgrade has already been completed in 70 percent of Cox's markets, with almost no customer disruption, Bowick said

More Reports:
- Cox ramps to 1 Ghz, revamps backbone under EON plan Report [1]
- Light Reading Report [2]

Related Article:
- Verizon puts the heat on cable Report [3]