Telco consultant says monolithic cable networks are a thing of the past

DOCSIS 4.0 is set to deliver faster speeds for cable network operators, but the next generation technology will also spur an operational sea change, said telecom consultant Sean McDevitt.“Historically, the cable industry had a ubiquitous mentality. DOCSIS 1.0 became 2.0 with 100% coverage and ubiquity to it,” McDevitt said, noting ubiquity refers to the idea that all subscribers in all nodes across the network have access to the same technology. “That mentality has carried forward as DOCSIS 2.0 became DOCSIS 3.0, and most people who have deployed DOCSIS 3.0 have now upgraded to DOCSIS 3.1 with pretty much ubiquity in mind.” But going forward “that’s with almost near certainty not going to be the case anymore.” McDevitt said that’s in part because different operators in the cable industry will have different versions of DOCSIS 4.0 to choose from, not all areas will necessarily need DOCSIS 4.0 and more players are likely to begin rolling fiber out to a portion of their customers.