Cable Europe, a group that represents MSOs in the region, said European regulators should proceed with caution following the issuance of network neutrality guidelines for member countries.

The guidelines, from the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), provide National Regulatory Authorities direction in implementing the net neutrality regulations. Those guidelines, similar in respect to the FCC’s version of its rules,  call for no blocking or throttling of online content, applications and services, while holding that zero-rated services should be looked at on a case-by-case basis.

Calling the pursuit of a ‘Digital Single Market” strategy is a one of the “greatest ambitions” of the European Union, Cable Europe likewise noted that “[l]egislators have acknowledged that a fast paced technological evolution is not compatible with overly prescriptive rules.”

“We believe that the ambitions of the Digital Single Market strategy are shared by industry and legislators alike,” Matthias Kurth, executive chairman of Cable Europe, said in a statement.  “We recognise that the potential for digital transformation must not be fettered by overly prescriptive rules that will stifle innovation and put lead boots on the boundless potential of our digital technology.

He added that “[m]uch rests now on the use of these guidelines by regulators, which whilst allowing National Regulatory Authorities the necessary autonomy could result in a negative outcome for progressive innovation.  We urge the NRAs to embrace the ambitions of  the Digital Single Market, and look forward to working with them as we turn the potential of Europe’s digital future into a reality." 

Cable Europe’s members include Liberty Global, Virgin Media, Vodfone, NOS, GET, Ziggo, SuisseDigital, Canal Digital, Cable Belgium, ANGA, Telecolumbus, NLKabel, Kabel Norge and com hem, among others.

About a year after the cable industry unveiled “Gigasphere” as the consumer-facing brand of the emerging DOCSIS 3.1 platform, it has followed up this week the launch of a microsite dedicated to the initiative.

The Gigasphere moniker was announced in tandem with the 2014 Cable Show in Los Angeles last April by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, in collaboration with the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing, CableLabs and Cable Europe. The Gigasphere logo showed up last fall.

The new microsite -- launched a few weeks before INTX: The Internet & Television Expo  (formerly known as The Cable Show) gets underway in Chicago -- offers high-level details about DOCSIS 3.1, a CableLabs-specified platform that will be capable of capacities of up to 10 Gbps downstream and as much as 2 Gbps upstream, focusing on how it will support new bandwidth-intensive apps and service such as 4K/Ultra HD and the smart home.

“Streaming video, online gaming, telemedicine, and the Internet of Things have transformed how we see the Internet and have challenged how we deliver it,” NCTA explained in this blog post about the Gigasphere site launch. “With Gigasphere technology, the same cable that we now use for broadband can be re-engineered to deliver multi-gig speeds and expansive capacities capable of catapulting us well into the future. Though Gigasphere is still in development, ISPs are already adopting the technology and plan on deploying soon.”

For those who are looking for a more technical readout of D3.1, the microsite’s  “peek under the hood” links over to this CableLabs page, which offers some nuts and bolts about the platform and access to the DOCSIS 3.1 specs themselves.  

But will Gigsasphere be used as a brand name or a product name? According to the FAQ, Gigasphere “is a category name, used to encompass the DOCSIS 3.1 platform itself as well as the many products and services the technical specification will enable. While it may be used in combination with specific products and services sold and marketed by cable companies, it’s not expected to be used as a brand name for any specific cable product line.”

Cox Communications, which will use a mix of fiber-to-the-home and D3.1 to deliver gigabit speeds, is using the “G1GABLAST” brand where it’s initially offering 1-gig over fiber. Comcast is using the Gigabit Pro brand for a residential 2-Gbps service that will be offered to millions of homes via fiber, though the MSO also intends to offer residential gigabit speeds on an even broader basis using DOCSIS 3.1. Comcast has begun to test DOCSIS 3.1-based traffic in the field ahead of expected broad scale rollouts next year.

UPC Hungary, along with vendor partners ActiveVideo and Metrological, shared the Cable Europe Innovation Award, presented Thursday at the Cable Congress event in Brussels.

Cable Europe announced the selection on Twitter. 

Cable Europe also announced that Stephen Kelly, communications architect at Liberty Cable, won the the Cable Europe Fellow Award, recognized in part for his role in the launch of the Virgin Media London Underground Wi-Fi solution, deployed in advance of the 2012 Summer Olympics, and, more recently, for defining Liberty Global’s Pan European Wii Architecture. He is has also been a key contributor to CableLabs’s development of industry-wide WiFi specifications and standards, Cable Europe said. 

UPC Hungary, ActiveVideo and Metrological, meanwhile, were recognized for the recent launch of a cloud-based platform that enables the MSO to offer a wide range of apps, including YouTube, on legacy, non-IP set-top boxes. The set-up is supported by StreamCast, a new component for ActiveVideo’s CloudTV system that converts interfaces, video and other content from Web formats to versions that can be rendered on older set-tops, and Metrological’s app platform. Watch this video for more.

According to the awards entry, UPC Hungary launched the offering to 520,000 set-tops in two phases, noting that 68% of subs have tried the service, and 83% have returned for additional views, and that customers are streaming more than 1 million minutes per day of YouTube content.

Other finalists for this year’s Cable Europe Innovation Award included a cloud video engine for the real-time generation of interactive channels by R, R, Syntheractive & Cinfo, and OptimizAIR 2.0, a system from Celeno Communications that Telenet is using to turn home routers into community WiFi hotspots.