Comcast Corp. is bringing penny-pinching to the costly US broadband arms race.
(Bloomberg) — Comcast Corp. is bringing penny-pinching to the costly US broadband arms race.
The Philadelphia-based cable giant says upgrading its network with new cable transmission technology to provide high-speed internet access will cost a fraction of what the rest of the industry is spending on fiber optics.
The upgrade will “cost us, on a gross basis, less than $200 per home passed,” Comcast’s Chief Network Officer Elad Nafshi said Tuesday at the RBC Capital Markets Global Technology, Internet, Media and Telecommunications Conference.
That number compares with about $1,000 per home for laying new fiber optic cable lines. Neither amount includes the cost of connecting all the way to a home.
Comcast and its cable peer, Charter Communications Inc., are taking an alternate path in the federally funded race to expand broadband service to more people in more parts of the US. Instead of replacing their networks of coaxial wires with higher-capacity fiber, the two companies have opted for a technology called DOCSIS 4.0 that uses amplifiers to allow existing cable systems to give customers multigigabit speeds.
Comcast currently passes 61 million homes and businesses, which would put a complete upgrade of its network in the ballpark of $12 billion. Rival AT&T Inc., meanwhile, has set its future on a fiber path, and expects to pass 30 million homes by 2025. Its broadband investment may ultimately be larger as a result.
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