Comcast announced pending rollouts of wideband to several additional markets including Baltimore, Atlanta, Chicago, and Ft. Wayne, Indiana. The service should be available by the end of the year in these new markets. Comcast had a goal of wiring 20% of its footprint with wideband by the end of 2008. “This technology, combined with our advanced fiber optic network, will enable us to continue to offer our customers even faster speeds and an entirely new phase of Internet innovation,” said Fred Graffam, Comcast senior vice president in a company statement.

Generally speaking, Comcast’s wideband markets include the following broadband tiers and upgrades:

• Extreme 50, offering up to 50 Mbps of downstream speed and up to 10 Mbps of upstream speed at $139.95/month
• Ultra, offering up to 22 Mbps of downstream speed and up to 5 Mbps of upstream speed at $62.95/month
• Performance Plus customers will be upgraded to Comcast’s Blast! tier, which will double their download speeds to up to 16 Mbps and provide up to 2 Mbps of upload speed
• Performance tier customers will benefit from doubled downstream and upstream speeds, offering up to 12 Mbps and 2 Mbps, respectively

With these additional markets, Comcast wideband passes about 10 million homes. As Light Reading points out, Comcast is selectively lighting wideband markets in areas where Verizon FiOS is present. Let the broadband “extreme” battle begin.

Cablevision announced they are planning a wideband roll out in their New York City metro market, where they compete directly with Verizon FiOS in many regions. The comments came from Tom Rutledge, COO of Cablevision who addressed the annual UBS Global and Media Communications Conference. Cablevision is a fierce competitor and has done an admirable job of meeting the FiOS competitive challenge head on. Their success is evidenced by industry leading penetration rates of triple play, broadband (50% of homes passed) and voice services (40% of homes passed). They are also in the process of building a mesh Wi-Fi network across their footprint, bringing a broadband wireless value add service to their subscribers.

Given their relative success against FiOS without DOCSIS 3.0, one has to imagine they’ll be even more effective with it. In addition, Rutledge discussed the advantage switched digital video (SDV) is bringing them, including providing more content options. It’s kind of ironic that Cablevision is leveraging SDV against a telcoTV competitor. It’s usually the opposite scenario. Looks like Verizon’s dogfight with Cablevision is about to get even more intense.

Comcast continues its rollout of DOCSIS 3.0, or wideband as they call it. Pacific Northwest markets of Washington and Oregon will soon join the Twin Cities in Minnesota and certain Northeastern markets with the 50 Mbps capable broadband service. Approximately 1.8 million subscribers should gain access to the service in early December. Comcast has committed to wiring 20% of its footprint by the end of 2008. Comcast wideband tiers include the "Extreme 50" which offers 50 Mbps down/10 Mbps up for $139.95 per month. Next in line is the “Ultra" tier which offers 22 Mbps down/5 Mbps up for $62.95 per month. Comcast will also offer a wideband business package which includes the Extreme 50 tier and bundles firewall/anti-virus and a Microsoft powered unified communications package for $189.95/month. All tiers are best effort, and can be impacted by traffic on the network. Consumer services are also subject to Comcast’s 250 GB per month bandwidth cap. It's not quite clear how Comcast will integrate wideband into it's double and triple play bundles.

An added benefit for existing subscribers in new wideband markets is an uptick in speeds for existing cable modem subscribers at no additional cost. Existing 6 Mbps down/1 Mbps tiers are doubled to 12 Mbps down/2 Mbps up, while the 8 Mbps/1 Mbps tier is also doubled to 16 Mbps down/2 Mbps up. Their Powerboost service, which adds a quick boost during downloads, remains as well. The move to wideband creates competitive pressures on all broadband providers within and close to these new markets. As Comcast blankets a new wideband market with advertising, they create a potential “wideband itch” among consumers, raising broadband expectations for all providers, regardless of whether they actually compete with Comcast directly or not.

Comcast is officially launching DOCSIS 3.0 service in some Northeast markets. The cable industry refers to DOCSIS 3.0 as wideband. Comcast quotes the era of DOCSIS 3.0 as the evolution of broadband to wideband. Wideband is a direct shot across the bow of Verizon FiOS and other FTTH providers. It also hopes to put the nail in the coffin of DSL, which will have a hard time competing with it. Comcast will offer the service in its Minneapolis, Boston, Philadelphia, and Southern New Hampshire markets. “Comcast plans to continue to roll out wideband across its footprint and expects to reach more than 10 major markets and pass nearly 10 million homes and businesses in the next several months,” says Comcast in a company statement. Comcast will offer the following wideband packages:

• Extreme 50, offering up to 50 Mbps of downstream speed and up to 10 Mbps of upstream speed at $139.95/month.
• Ultra, offering up to 22 Mbps of downstream speed and up to 5 Mbps of upstream speed at $62.95/month.
• Performance tier customers will benefit from doubled downstream and upstream speeds, offering up to 12 Mbps and 2 Mbps, respectively.
• Performance Plus customers will be upgraded to Comcast’s Blast! tier, which will double their download speeds to up to 16 Mbps and provide up to 2 Mbps of upload speed.

“Wideband is a game-changer for the industry. With wideband running over our next-generation fiber-optic network, we can greatly enhance our customers’ online experience immediately. And these speeds are only a preview of what’s to come—wideband will provide the capability of delivering dramatically faster speeds in excess of 160 Mbps in the future,” said Mitch Bowling, SVP and General Manager, Comcast Online Services.