Time Warner Cable said it is “well-positioned” to bring speeds of 1 Gbps across its Los Angeles footprint in the wake of a request for participants (RFP) issued by the city last week.
TWC said it will be able to hit those speeds across the city, rather than just in individual neighborhoods, as DOCSIS 3.1 technology begins to mature. D3.1, which the cable industry is promoting under the “Gigasphere” consumer brand, will enable cable operators to deliver multi-gigabit speeds on their hybrid fiber/coax networks.
“As Gigasphere technology is introduced, we are well-positioned to deliver residential Internet speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second throughout our entire LA footprint—not just in a few neighborhoods—just as we said we would when we participated in the City’s RFI process.”
In July 2014, TWC said it was participating in a request for information about brining 1-gig to L.A. residences, businesses and city government facilities.
Last week the Los Angeles City Council approved a request for participants that seeks to identify one or more providers to commit to deploying wireline and WiFi networks that can provide speeds of 1 Gbps, and complete the job within the next five years. That project, calledCityLinkLA, is allowing interested participants to bid on one or more quadrants.
In addition to providing 1 Gig wireline speeds, CityLinkLA’s requirments also call for WiFi that delivers 5 Mbps or second to every connected device (and to provide sufficient backhaul for 200 simultaneous users at 5 Mbps down by 1 Mbps upstream), and a free wireline service that delivers at least 5 Mbps/1 Mbps.
In exchange, the city said it will help to accelerate the pace of the buildouts with incentives that include expedited handling of applications for construction, space on some city property for hubs and central offices, and “favorable bulk rates” for access to city street light standards that can be used for WiFi access points.
TWC, which is in the process of being acquired by Charter Communications, noted that it completed its all-digital “TWC Maxx” upgrade in L.A. last year, enabling faster Internet speeds, including a new 300 Mbps (downstream) service and that it continues to expand its community WiFi network.
“As a result, Los Angeles now has one of the fastest and most advanced Internet infrastructures of any city in the nation,” TWC said.
“Of course, we are eager to work with the City to take advantage of new faster permitting processes and to gain access to the city resources that we need to further accelerate our path to gigabit Internet and add even more WiFi hotspots in the places where L.A. people work and play. We look forward to learning more about the process, which we can only assume will be fair and provide a level playing field for all service providers.”
The city, which will entertain demand-based proposals, has set a response date of Nov. 12, 2015.
