Cox Communications has struck a national sponsorship agreement with the Drone Racing League (DRL), and will use that deal in part to tout the speeds and performance of its WiFi products. 

That sponsorship will be active during the 2018 DRL Allianz World Championship Season and extend to drone pilot Nick “WildWilly” Willard, a two-time, third place DRL winner who hails from Atlanta, Cox’s headquarters city.  

RELATED: Cox Crosses Whole-Home WiFi Milestone

Willard will be among 18 top pilots who will race custom-built DRL drones during the seven-event series, which will be broadcast in more than 75 countries on networks such as ESPN, Sky Sports, ProSiebenSat.1, OSN, Fox Sports Asia and Disney XD.

Financial terms weren’t announced, but Cox said its sponsorship will include a custom commercial spot produced by DRL’s media team, digital content creation, and live FPV (First Person View) freestyle events, where Willard will perform drone tricks and maneuvers while donning a branded uniform.

“The Drone Racing League is an undeniable reminder of the speed and performance excellence required by today’s connected devices. We’re proud to sponsor DRL and support millions of other high-speed applications with our nationwide network,” Mark Greatrex, executive vice president and chief marketing and sales officer at Cox, said in a statement.

In addition to participating on a Cable WiFi consortium that has deployed more than 500,000 hotspots in outdoor and business locations, Cox also markets Panoramic WiFi, a premium, whole-home WiFi offering that has more than 1 million customers on board.

Arris International said it has landed a deal to supply a hosted version of its carrier-class service provider WiFi platform to Mediacom Communications for a deployment that is already underway in almost a dozen communities

The Arris platform being used by Mediacom integrates products from partners that include Ruckus Wireless, Aptilo Networks and Benu Networks. The combo enables Mediacom to combine its wireless assets into a unified, centrally managed network, and support a single sign-on for roaming among WiFi hotspots.

RELATED: Arris Puts Up $800M for Ruckus Wireless, ICX Switch Biz

Mediacom is deploying the out-of-home WiFi network to extend access at small-business locations, as well as venues and markets spanning hospitality and education, among others.

A Mediacom spokesman said deployments are underway in Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo.; Moline, East Moline, Rock Island and Silvis, Ill; Bettendorf and Davenport, Iowa; Savage, Minn.; and Valdosta, Ga.  

Of recent note, Mediacom made its WiFi service available to the public last weekend during the PGA’s John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, and supported more than 17,000 unique users on the service during the tournament.

Mediacom has not identified the next group of cities where it will deploy its WiFi network, but acknowledged that its “ultimate goal” is to join the Cable WiFi roaming consortium as it looks to expand into more markets. MSOs involved in the WiFi roaming group currently include Comcast, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, and Altice USA.

"ARRIS's Wi-Fi technology and expertise is enabling us to address the demand for carrier-grade wireless services in our key markets," JR Walden, SVP technology and CTO at Mediacom, said in a statement. "By hosting this solution for us, ARRIS is giving Mediacom the freedom to scale to new customers and services at our own pace, without having to make big investments in new infrastructure."

Cox Communications said it has completed the nationwide launch of Panoramic WiFi, a premium-level whole-home WiFi service that starts at $9.99 per month.

Cox introduced Panoramic WiFi last fall in areas such as San Diego, Orange County and Santa Barbara, and wrapped up the rollout following introductions in Las Vegas; and Tucson and Phoenix, Ariz.

The Cox Panoramic WiFi service centers on a modem/router with a DOCSIS 3.0 24/8 modem integrated with 24/dual-band 802.11ac WiFi. That’s combined with 24/7 support, access to My WiFi, a network management app for iOS and Android mobile devices, and a customized WiFi installation.

RELATED: WiFi ‘Volcanos’ No Longer Cut It

Cox is also renting out WiFi extenders that utilize MoCA 2.0 technology for $4 each per month.

Panoramic WiFi customers can also connect to more than 500,000 hotspots that are currently part of a Cable WiFi roaming consortium that includes Cox, Comcast, Charter Communications and Altice USA (via its acquisition of Cablevision Systems).

In February, Cox touted the whole-home WiFi service, which uses “It’s wall-to-wall fast” tagline, in with an ad that ran regionally in San Diego during Super Bowl LI.

Cox joins several other cable operators and ISPs, including Comcast, Atlantic Broadband, Midco, and Frontier Communications that have rolled out or plan to deploy whole-home WiFi platforms that take aim at dead zones.

RELATED: Comcast Leads $37.5M Investment in Plume 

“With Panoramic WiFi, our customers are getting a consistent, dependable and high-quality connection in every room in their home – even while moving between rooms,”  Philip Nutsugah, Cox’s vice president, product strategy and management, said in a statement. “Since launch in October 2016, we’ve seen rapid adoption and positive feedback from high-speed internet customers. As more devices get connected in the home, Panoramic WiFi becomes the backbone.”

Comcast said it will cater to online bargain hunters by opening up access to its footprint of Xfinity WiFi public hotspots on “Cyber Monday.”

The MSO, which has deployed more than 15 million Xfinity WiFi hotspots in public and business locations and in home-side gateways, said it will provide free access to all, including non-Comcast subs, for a 24-hour period starting 6 a.m. ET Monday (Nov. 28).

Where WiFi access is available from Comcast, customers and non-subs alike will be able to log in by clicking the “xfinitywifi” network ID.

“Many bargain-hunters will be away from their homes, as they travel to and from work, running errands around town or visiting family and friends,” the MSO noted in this blog post. 

As whole-home WiFi systems become an increasing important part of cable operator strategies, CableLabs has initiated a project that aims to standardize the communication protocols for multiple, coordinated home WiFi access points.

While that work won’t be part of DOCSIS, it does aim to span across variety of WiFi-enhancing tools and technologies, including mesh-based networks, WiFi repeaters and WiFi extenders.

RELATED: WiFi ‘Volcanos’ No Longer Cut It

The general focus of the work is to bring the capability of an enterprise-grade multi access point architecture to the home without the need for a wireless LAN controller, explained John Bahr, lead architect, wireless technologies at CableLabs.

He said CableLabs will be working with vendors and standards bodies to come up with a standard communication structure that handles the exchange of information between WiFi access points to ensure that the client devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.) can decide the best path.

“The clients have no idea which access point they should associate with … to get the best throughput, the best latency and the lowest jitter,” he said.

More specifically, that work will focus on areas such as the steering of clients between access points, steering clients between different bands supported by those APs, auto-configuration, and radio resource management.

“The goal of the protocol is to come up with something that could be adopted by the industry because there’s a vacuum right now for something like this,” Bahr said.

Meanwhile, several vendors, including Arris, AirTies, eero, Google, are already tackling these issues at retail and, to a lesser degree, in partnership with cable operators and other ISPs. 

RELATED: Frontier, AirTies Make Home WiFi Connection

Though the scope of the proposed standard is still in the works, Bahr stressed that the aim of the project is not to take away from a vendor’s value proposition. He likened it to the 802.11 standards in that vendors are still able to innovate on top of them.

It’s also too early to say when CableLabs intends to complete that work, though Bahr is hopeful that 2017 will provide a “first step in this direction.”  He also said CableLabs might also look for ways to weave open source options into a standard. 

The idea of the test is to show how the two technologies -- the WiFi cable broadband providers use to provide mobile connectivity and the LTE-U (U for "unlicensed") that cellular companies want to use to offer a similar service -- can share unlicensed spectrum.

"Delivering a cross-industry coexistence testing solution was an unprecedented and difficult task, and the outcome will help ensure the billions of people who rely on WiFi every day will continue to benefit from the same great user experience they have enjoyed for more than 15 years," said Ed Figueroa, president of the Alliance. "WiFi connectivity underpins our daily lives, and WiFi Alliance has an obligation to represent the needs of WiFi users worldwide."

LTE backers have been somewhat at odds with the forces of cable WiFi over opening up spectrum currently used by cable providers for their primary WiFi play to telcos looking to create their own broadband hot spots via LTE-U.

Cable CTOs, including those from Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter and Cablevision, as well as computer company execs have told the FCC that they don't oppose LTE-U, but that it has so far "avoided the long-proven standards-setting process and would substantially degrade consumer WiFi service across the country."

Those cable ops were sounding hopeful that testing would yield those needed protections.

“We applaud the WiFi Alliance for developing a consensus-driven test plan that will ensure new LTE-U devices coexist fairly with the existing WiFi networks and devices hundreds of millions of consumers already use and enjoy," said WiFi Forward, a group that includes the NCTA-The Internet & Television Association. "Measuring LTE-U devices for fair coexistence under the test plan is also crucial to protecting the major financial investments made by organizational WiFi users from schools, hospitals and libraries to cities, governments and small businesses. Only by requiring LTE-U equipment vendors to test all proposed devices according to the clear, consistent and comprehensive standards of the test plan can consumers have confidence that their Wi-will continue to work as designed."

The deployment of new technologies and how MSOs are dealing with competition from OTT, telcos and satellite rivals will be given a global twist at next month’s SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in Philadelphia.

The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers and its global division, the International Society of Broadband Experts (ISBE), said a session set for the morning of Thursday, Sept. 29  will feature the following panel:

-Steve McCaffery (moderator), managing director, Arris International;

-Chris Bastian, Senior Vice President and CTO, SCTE/ISBE;

-Hernan Benavides, Vice President, Engineering, Liberty Global Latin America and Caribbean (LiLAC); and,

- Mark Yamaguchi, President, Synclayer, and President, Japan Cable TV Engineering Association (JCTEA).

The Arris-sponsored SCTE/ISBE International Attendee Breakfast  is set to start at 7:30 a.m. ET in Room 120-C of the Pennsylvania Convention Center, with the one-hour panel session set to start at 8 a.m. will take place from 8 to 9 a.m. 

The panel is expected to discuss a range of topics, including the deployment of new technologies, competition, WiFi strategies, future network expansion in support of services such as the Internet of Things and virtual reality, how to prioritize capital expenditures for upgrades, and the shift beyond HD video quality.

Charter Communications president and CEO Tom Rutledge alluded that wireless will be part of the MSO’s game plan going forward, but stopped short of saying whether that strategy will ultimately include an MVNO component.

Charter expanded into the metro WiFi game by inheriting the networks deployed by Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, while also getting access to an MVNO deal with Verizon that was factored into TWC’s and BHN’s sale of wireless spectrum sale to the mobile carrier.

“We have not fully exercised that right yet,” Rutledge said of the MVNO agreement. “We’re looking at what those rights are and how we’ll execute for how we’ll utilize them for the best interest of the company. But we don’t have a plan yet that we’re ready to roll out.”

Earlier in the call Rutledge noted that Charter’s WiFi network combined with “MVNO opportunities” and other wireless building blocks “Should allow us to create products and services with high value proposition…Over time, we'll have more to discuss on this subject.”

Comcast has already invoked its MVNO agreement with Verizon (Comcast also has one with Sprint), but has not yet launched a mobile service under its own brand. However, Comcast has created a new mobile division that is being led by Greg Butz.

Rutledge also offered an update on Charter’s plan to use two-way, VOD-capable set-tops to fuel the completion of all-digital rollouts at the TWC and BHN properties, and to extend its new cloud-powered Spectrum Guide to those markets.

Charter has wrapped up all-digital upgrades in its legacy areas, and expects to get them rolling in TWC and BHN markets. Rutledge estimated that 40% of TWC’s assets are not all-digital, and about half of BHN’s properties have not yet gone all-digital, and that the upgrades should be completed by 2018.

As for Spectrum Guide, which can be offered on Charter’s full suite of set-top boxes, the MSO expects to have it rolled out to most legacy Charter markets by the end of 2017. It will follow with rollouts in TWC’s larger markets by mid-2017, and hit other TWC and BHN areas throughout the year and through 2018 as the all-digital project is completed.

Charter, Rutledge said, has also begun an “insourcing” effort for the newly combined company, noting that the process will take “several years” and require the hiring and training of 20,000 people.

As an example of progress, Rutledge said Charter has built its first Spanish-language call center in Texas, which will house approximately 600 seats.

“Ultimately, with a more local workforce, we'll perform higher-quality transactions with customers , which we expect will improve customer satisfaction,” Rutledge said.

Altice “has given Cablevision the blessing to close Freewheel,” The Wall Street Journal reported in a story about cost-cutting efforts that are underway at the operator, which has also swallowed up Suddenlink.

Altice USA has been asked for further comment and if and when Freewheel might be shut down. However, the Freewheel site shows that it’s still open for business, with service limited to the Android-powered Motorola (now part of Lenovo) Moto G smartphone. The number to order service (866-580-1619) was also active as of Tuesday evening. 

But the Twitter handle that’s been used for Freewheel (@freewheelwifi) is no longer active. The same is true of  what used to be Freewheel's Google+ page, YouTube channel and Instagram account.

If Freewheel goes away, it’s hard to say how many consumers will be torn up about it, since Cablevision has never said how many people bought in. Cablevision has been selling the Moto G alongside a service that runs $9.95 per month for consumers who take its MSO’s high-speed Internet service, and $29.95 per month for all others. 

But Cablevision was bullish on its prospects when it launched. Though Freewheel’s Instagram account appears to be shut down, photos taken at the service’s launch party still live on.

Comcast said it is expanding its capabilities in the Twin Cities with a broader rollout of WiFi hotspots, enhancements to X1 and dollars to beef up the network serving area business customers.

On the WiFi front, Comcast said it is adding more than 1,400 public hotspots in “high-traffic” areas such as public parks and recreation areas, retail locations and transit stops. That deployment is slated to be completed by the end of 2016.

Comcast is also enhancing its X1 platform there with the addition of in-home streaming of the MSO’s pay TV service (including live TV and VOD) on tablets, smartphones and Web browsers and extending access to its cloud DVR product.  Comcast is also making Xfinity On Campus, its X1-powered product for universities adn colleges, available to partner schools in the Twin Cities.

Comcast Business, meanwhile, pledged to invest over the next two years up to $15 million in network expansions areas such as Eden Prairie, Oakdale, Brooklyn Park and to downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul. Last year, the unit spent more than $3.2 million to expand fiber to area businesses.

In an effort to help cable operators and other partners bring wireless connectivity to a greater range of venues, Ericsson (booth 341) is using this week’s show to roll out WiFi On Wheels, an offering that features Ford Transit 350 cargo vans outfitted with six access points.

Ericsson estimates that each van supplies enough capacity to serve about 2,500 people attending an event.

The vendor said it worked with Comcast to bring the offering to life, as the MSO plans to use the vans to support a range of community activities, sporting events and for emergency response initiatives. Notably, the WiFi On Wheels platform enables service without the constraint of site construction and a coverage radius of up to 500 feet.

According to Ericsson the van specs include including multiple network access connections, non-line-of-sight (NLOS) microwave backhaul, onboard backup power and modular deployment elements that enable Comcast to deploy and get them operational in a matter of minutes.

“Driving innovation means not only bringing the best technology, but also enabling it to be used in new ways. This new rapid deployment solution will mean fast dispatch and hassle-free setup for Comcast, so they can bring coverage to new hard to reach locations,” Angel Ruiz, president and CEO of Ericsson North America, said in a statement.

“Comcast manages the world’s largest WiFi network and we continue to look for innovative ways to provide consumers with access to XFINITY WiFi in even more places,” added Eric Schaefer, senior vice president and general manager, communications, data and mobility at Comcast.

With outdoor, business and in-home wireless gateways factored in, Comcast’s WiFi network spans about 14 million hotspots.

About 700 Wawa stores in six states now provide free WiFi access thanks to a new partnership with Comcast’s business services unit.

Comcast Business said its Enterprise division installed the managed public/private WiFi network (along with managed broadband services) in those stores located in Delaware, Florida, Maryland, new Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia. To gain free WiFi access and sidestep usage of the cellular network, Wawa customers at those locations will need to point their devices to the “xfinitywifi” SSID.

Notably, the scope of the agreement includes deployments in Wawa stores that are both in and out of Comcast’s traditional service footprint.

Update: Comcast confirmed that coverage outside its traditional footprint in the Wawa deal is coming way of its announcement last fall to focus on enterprise business customers in the Fortune 1000 and enable that in part through network agreements with other cable operators, a group that includes Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, Cox Communications and Cablevision Systems.

Comcast Business in January announced the commercial launch of WiFi Pro, a cloud-controlled WiFi platform for small- and medium-sized businesses and enterprise branch locations.

"This collaboration between Xfinity and Comcast Business to deliver an integrated, managed Wi-Fi service to Wawa, a respected mainstay in the Philadelphia business community, highlights the value we can deliver to customers across our high-growth businesses," said Bill Stemper, president of Comcast Business, in a statement. “As more enterprises look to improve the customer experience at their branch locations, fast and reliable Wi-Fi has become a cornerstone for attracting and retaining customers. Comcast has the services and expertise to enable a great Wi-Fi experience to all locations within a distributed enterprise whether it’s a retailer like Wawa, a bank, hotel or restaurant chain."

Separately, Comcast Business said it notched a deal to be the exclusive network services provider for Bethesda Green, a non-profit incubator for environmentally sustainable businesses in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Montgomery County, Md. The agreement included a 1 Gbps Ethernet Dedicated Internet line that’s capable of scaling up to 10 Gbps.

Comcast Business pulled in $1.25 billion in revenues in Q4 2015, up from $1.05 billion the year-ago quarter.  Comcast is scheduled to report Q1 2016 results on Wednesday (April 27) morning.

Shares in Ruckus Wireless jumped more than 31% in afternoon trading Monday after Brocade announced it had agreed to acquire the supplier of wireless gear and control systems that counts Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Cablevision Systems among its WiFi technology clients.

Under terms of the deal Ruckus stockholders will receive $6.45 in cash and 0.75 shares of Brocade common stock for each share of Ruckus common stock. Based on the closing price of Brocade’s stock on April 1, 2016, the transaction values Ruckus at $14.43 per common share, or approximately $1.5 billion, though that number could fluctuate until the deal is closed. Net of estimated cash acquired, the transaction value is approximately $1.2 billion, they said.

Ruckus, which struck a global reselling deal with Arris in 2011, saw its shares soar on the news – its stock was up 31.60% ($3.16 each) to $13.16 each in afternoon trading. Brocade shares went into opposite direction -- they were down 13.96% ($1.49 each) to $9.15 each at last check. 

Brocade said the deal will complement its own enterprise networking portfolio with Ruckus’s “higher-growth wireless products” while strengthening Brocade’s strategic presence in the broader service provider space. Brocade said the deal will also help in its pursuit of emerging market opportunities around 5G, the Internet of Things, and LTE/WiFi convergence.

Ruckus competes in the WiFi arena with companies such as Cisco Systems and Ericsson, which acquired BelAir Networks in 2012.

The Ruckus organization will be led by current Ruckus CEO, Selina Lo, and report directly to Brocade CEO, Lloyd Carney, the companies said.  

Notably, Lo is scheduled to speak next Wednesday (April 13) at the CableLabs Inform[ed] Wireless event in New York in a session titled: “Evolution of Cable Networks and Mobile Opportunities”

"This strategic combination will position us to expand our addressable market and technology leadership with Ruckus’ fast-growing wireless LAN products, and supports our vision to deliver market-leading New IP solutions that enable the network to become a platform for innovation,”  Carney said in a statement.

"The combination of our two companies will create an exciting new thought leader in networking and significant opportunities for our stakeholders to participate in the combined company's future growth potential,” added Lo. "We operate in adjacent segments of the larger networking market with a number of common customers for our complementary products, and have a successful track record of working together.”

They said the deal, which has been approved by the boards of both companies, is expected to close in the third quarter of Brocade’s fiscal Q3.

Ruckus also announced updated Q1 2016 guidance. It expects total revenues of $98 million to $101 million, and non-GAAP diluted net income per share of $0.09 to $0.10. 

Bright House Networks will boost residential broadband speeds for no added cost in early December.

Bytier, all marketed under the Lightning brand, here are the changes on the way: 

- 35 Mbps down by 2 Mbps up rises to 50x5;

-75x5  jumps to 100x10;

-150x10 moves to 200x15;  

-300x15 will increase the upstream side of the speed ledger to 20 Mbps.

“The speed boosts come at no additional charge to existing customers who already subscribe to these packages,” said the MSO, which has also deployed 52,000 WiFi hotspots, which factor into the 400,000 that are part of the Cable WiFi roaming consortium that also includes Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision Systems and Cox Communications.

Bright House Networks, which is merging with Charter Communications, said it will also launch its Lightning 300 service in additional service areas, and introduce a new highi-speed Internet package to customers, including a 25x3 tier,  in January 2016.

Taking deeper aim at cable’s growing metro WiFi market, Ericsson has introduced an 802.11ac Wave 2 access point, the AP 6335.

Ericsson said the product, an “evolution” of the Ericsson BelAir 100SNE cable access point, is a new strand-mounted device that includes an integrated DOCSIS modem and multi-user MIMO, and connects to the cable plant’s power and backhaul capacity.  The new AP 6335 also features  Passpoint Release 2.0 and IPv6 “with full support of all FCC channels,” said Ericsson, which has deployed more than 100,000 cable WiFi access points worldwide.

The new product enters play as cable operators continue to expand their metro WiFi networks. The Cable WiFi roaming consortium of Comcast, Cablevision Systems, Cox Communications, Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable have deployed more than 400,000 WiFi hotspots.

“This robust, high-performance outdoor access point will meet the complex and stringent requirements of cable operators and enable them to meet the demand of data-hungry, Wi-Fi consumers,” Paul Challoner, head of WiFi at Ericsson, said in a statement .

Wireless companies have formed a new coalition to promote LTE-U and LAA, technologies that will let them compete with cable WiFi hot spots.

The new coalition, called EVOLVE, will promote the consumer benefits--increased data speeds, improved coverage of the technologies--through lobbying in Washington and consumer education.

Founding members of the coalition are Competitive Carriers Association, CTIA–The Wireless Association, Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, Qualcomm Incorporated, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

Cable operators have argued that standards first need to be in place to prevent the new technology from interfering with existing Wi-Fi, while wireless companies insist it has been tested already, that the two can co-exist, and LTE-U and LAA, which is a licensed-spectrum assisted version, should roll out ASAP.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has encouraged both sides to come to a meeting of the minds, saying it is preferable to the FCC stepping in to mandate a way for ward. 

"Like all American consumers, EVOLVE members support WiFi and understand the important role it plays in meeting consumers’ broadband demands," the new coalition said in a statement. "LTE-U and LAA were designed from the ground-up to operate cooperatively with WiFi and other signals. In fact, when tested together, Wi-Fi performed the same or even better with LTE-U than Wi-Fi does alone."

LTE backers have been at odds with the forces of cable WiFi over opening up spectrum currently used by cable ops for their primary WiFi play to telcos looking to create their own broadband hot spots via LTE-U (U for "unlicensed").

At a CTIA Super Mobility conference in Las Vegas, Wheeler talked about the FCC's role in promoting LTE-U. He said there were "many flavors" of the technology, but that the keys were getting maximum efficiency out of both licensed and unlicensed. "If they can work together to achieve that," he said, "that's good." But, he said, "if some of the things that are envisioned end up affecting the ability of Wi-Fi to deliver, that's bad."

Wheeler put in a plug for dealing with that tension through the traditional route of a broad-based standards process—something the cable operators have been seeking assurances would be the FCC approach.

“Americans need better broadband, and they need it now,” said Dean Brenner, SVP, government affairs, for Qualcomm, which pioneered LTE-u and has been pushing for rolling out the technology ASAP. “That is because the Internet is entering a new phase of growth, in which so many more devices are connected and share rich data, making it necessary to increase mobile broadband capacity by 1,000 times. We applaud and join EVOLVE in its commitment to permission-less wireless innovation and the decades-long public policy that has made unlicensed spectrum so successful."

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association had no comment, but Wifi Forward, a group that includes NCTA heavy hitters Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Charter, said it was fine with talking about co-existence.

"Everyone should have the ability to utilize and share the critical unlicensed bands," the group said in a statement. "WifiForward welcomes diverse and robust conversations on how we can best promote, protect and advance innovation in these bands. We welcome efforts that enhance the wireless experience while successfully coexisting with other Wi-Fi technologies."

The following are the new coalition's stated aims.

1 "Innovation in unlicensed spectrum will continue to fuel the continually evolving high-tech industry and empower consumers with even more choices in products and services.    

2. "The FCC has designated that unlicensed spectrum is available for everyone – using any technology – and continues to be crucial to the evolution and growth of mobile communications. It is important for all participants in the unlicensed space, both existing and new entrants, to coexist and play well together. 

3.“Permission-less innovation” means that new technologies should be encouraged to leverage unlicensed spectrum to drive a competitive mobile marketplace that provides for ubiquitous connectivity in the burgeoning Internet of Things market.

4. "Wi-Fi is a critical component of wireless networks and provides important connectivity for consumers. New technologies using unlicensed spectrum need to work cooperatively with Wi-Fi today, tomorrow and into the future. Likewise, current-generation technologies must accommodate new innovative technologies that also operate in unlicensed spectrum.

5. "Together, the unlicensed policy framework and permission-less innovation are a resounding success, producing a continuously evolving stream of new technologies, devices, apps, products and services. 

6. "Consumers depend on unlicensed spectrum for a variety of uses – Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, telematics, consumer electronics, and manufacturing – and benefit when new innovations in the unlicensed space improve and enhance their rapidly increasing digital demands.

7. "The best way to address spectrum congestion is a strategy of abundance and sound policy. Unlicensed spectrum is one of several important components to meeting consumers’ demand in broadband, both mobile and fixed. The federal government must continue to make additional spectrum available for unlicensed use."

T-Mobile and Bright House Networks are teaming on a Passpoint-powered WiFi roaming trial that will tie in about 34,000 hotspots that the cable operator has deployed in Tampa and Orlando, according to T-Mobile Web pages that detail the effort.

Those documents, spotted by Fierce Wireless, note that about 50,000 customers will receive a text message asking them to opt into the trial. The test will use Passpoint on handsets to auto-connect to Bright House’s WiFi network, and only on Passpoint-enabled devices that support either WiFi Calling 1.0 or 2.0. Voice-over-LTE support isn’t required but is “strongly recommended for the best experience.” VoLTE is encouraged because it “will improve your experience by enabling call handovers between Wi-Fi and VoLTE network when on the move,” explains the trial FAQ.

Update: This is an upcoming technology trial and not a commercial relationship between T-Mobile and Bright House Networks. "Yes, we are looking to conduct a technology trial in the Tampa-Orlando, Florida market focused on Passpoint technology and access," a T-Mobile spokesperson said, in a statement. "We continue to look at ways to drive a better, more differentiated wireless experience for T-Mobile customers." 

Passpoint, also known as HotSpot 2.0, is a technology that brings cellular-like handoff and roaming capabilities to WiFi, and is sometimes viewed as enabler for MSO voice-over-WiFi services. T-Mobile is using Passpoint on some WiFi-capable handsets so its customers can connect calls, receive messages and obtain data via the carrier’s “Preferred” WiFi access points. Data used over WiFi does not count toward a T-Mobile user’s monthly data consumption bucket, the carrier said. 

When WiFi is turned on, T-Mobile explains, the Passpoint feature in the handset and Bright House’s WiFi hotpot will automatically connect customers when they are in range. “No password is required.” Passpoint-enabled devices eligible for the trial include several iPhone models, the HTC Desire, LG G5, Samsung Galaxy S5, and Sony Xperia Z3, among several others.

Time Warner Cable is using Passpoint to help underpin its roaming pact with Boingo.

Word of the T-Mobile-Bright House trial comes as cable operators expand the reach of their WiFi networks and as some consider WiFi-first mobile services that prefer WiFi connectivity and use cellular as a backup. The Cable WiFi Alliance (BHN, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox Communications, and TWC are currently members) have deployed more than 400,000 quasi-public WiFi hotspots that are accessible to their respective high-speed Internet subscribers.  Of that group, Cablevision has launched a WiFi-only service called Freewheel.

Charter Communications, which is in the process of acquiring TWC and Bright House, has begun to deploy WiFi, under the “Spectrum WiFi” banner, and is expected to join the Cable WiFi group later this year.

Speaking Wednesday (August 5) on Charter’s second quarter earnings call, company president and CEO Tom Rutledge was asked about T-Mobile’s openness to potential cable partnerships and his interest in working with a wireless carrier.

“I think wireless is a component of our service already,” Rutledge said, referring to Charter’s WiFi rollout. “So I think there are opportunities, business opportunities, to create mobility for us whether that's with T-Mo or any other provider for that matter. I think opportunities exist there and people are trying to figure out the right business models to do that.”

In a co-bylined op ed in The Wall Street Journal in advance of congressional hearings this week on wireless spectrum and the Internet of Things, the pair said auctioning government spectrum would not only provide revenue to the treasury but "greatly benefit" data-hungry consumers.

Given that it takes years after an auction to actually repurpose the spectrum -- three to five is one estimate for reusing broadcast spectrum being auctioned early next year, for example -- they argue the time to start working on freeing up that government spectrum is now.

"According to industry and FCC studies, the federal government still has sole or primary use of almost 70% of the spectrum best suited for broadband technologies," they wrote. "Congress needs to transfer some of that spectrum from federal to commercial use. That requires a comprehensive plan, which is crucial for maintaining the country’s momentum in wireless networks, devices and apps. Otherwise, investment, innovation, jobs and economic growth will suffer."

The bipartisan pair said that "keeping discussions bipartisan and focused on solving problems" is the way to proceed.

Genachowski is currently managing director at the Carlyle Group. McDowell is a partner at Wiley Rein LLP and senior adviser to Berenson & Co.

Broadening the reach of its wireless broadband network, Comcast announced Tuesday that it has deployed more than 1,800 quasi-public Xfinity WiFi hotspots in some high-traffic areas in its Keystone Region, an area that covers parts of western, central and northeastern Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, northern West Virginia and the Maryland panhandle.

For this portion of the WiFi deployment in Keystone, Comcast said it has installed hotspots in shopping spots along McKnight Road and Babcock Boulevard in Pittsburgh’s North Hills, Perkiomen Avenue in Reading, and Route 30 in Lancaster and York, among other areas. 

Comcast said it expects to add another 1,500 WiFi hotspots in the Keystone region before the end of the year. Those deployments will build on the thousands of WiFi hotspots Comcast has deployed elsewhere in the state, including the greater Philadelphia area.

Those hotspots are accessible for free to most Comcast cable modem subscribers, as well as broadband customers who receive broadband service from other members of the “Cable WiFi” roaming consortium – Cablevision Systems, Bright House Networks, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications.  Those operators have deployed more than 400,000 hotspots. Charter Communications, which has begun to deploy its own network of hotspots under the “Spectrum WiFi” and is in the process of acquiring TWC and Bright House, is expected to join the Cable WiFi group by the end of the year (subscription required).

Comcast’s total WiFi footprint (comprised of deployments in public and business locations, as well as via “Neighborhood Hotspots” installed in home-side routers) currently spans more than 8.6 million hotspots, Neil Smit, Comcast Cable’s president and CEO, said in May during the company’s first quarter earnings call.

“With the number of mobile devices increasing, now more than ever before, our customers want to be connected wherever they go,” said Christine Whitaker, SVP of Comcast’s Keystone Region, in a statement. “Having the largest Wi-Fi network in the region and the nation is a major benefit to our customers, and we are pleased to continue to make these investments.”

Time Warner Cable said it has expanded its metro WiFi network to three new cities – Dallas; San Antonio; and Raleigh, N.C. -- and has now deployed more than 100,000 TWC WiFi hotspots across its national WiFi network. 

TWC, which is in the process of merging with Charter Communications,  also operates WiFi networks in parts of New York City, Los Angeles, Austin, Kansas City, Charlotte, Myrtle Beach, San Diego, Palm Springs, and Hawaii.

TWC said those hotspots now factor into more than 400,000 that are now offered via the Cable WiFi roaming consortium, a group that also includes Comcast, Cablevision Systems, Bright House Networks, and Cox Communications. TWC Internet subs also have access to WiFi hotspots deployed at more than 100 “premium” Boingo locations, including 25 of the busiest airports in the U.S., in the wake of a roaming deal announced by the companies in June 2014.

Last year, TWC Internet subs engaged in more than 180 million WiFi sessions on its network, up 327% from the previous year, according to Rob Cerbone, VP of wireless product management for TWC.

In addition to providing access to its WiFi network as a perk to its broadband subs and to consumers who take service from Boingo or one of the Cable WiFi partners, TWC also offers access to non-subs via a pay-as-you-go program that starts at $2.95 per hour.

“In today’s highly mobile world, one of the biggest benefits of being a TWC Internet customer is access to free WiFi throughout the U.S.,” Cerbone said, in a statement. “We’re growing our network every day and helping customers stay connected to what matters to them most by offering superfast broadband Internet speeds whether they are at home or away.”

CHICAGO -- While everyone seems to be fixated on residential broadband speeds the pump out 1 Gigabit per second or more, cable operators and other broadband ISPs must also continue to focus on improving the overall user experience as consumers connect in and outside the home.

That was a prevailing view here Tuesday afternoon during a technology session focused on innovation and the future of media.

The network is already doing a good job of meeting the needs of most consumers, but “the network has got to be smarter,” said David Dibble, the former Yahoo exec who was named CTO of Cablevision Systems last fall. “It’s not just a series of dumb pipes.”

By “smarter,” Dibble meant using things like telemetry  data and other forms of information that can keep tabs on the user experience, and in some cases, make the network itself a self-managed entity.

Tony Werner, the executive vice president and CTO of Comcast, agreed that an important goal is to manage that experience on the wired network to the home and when consumers access the Internet via WiFi. On that point, he said 60% of devices in the home aren’t wired and will only grow.

“I do very much believe that the home will go 100% wireless inside” within 12 to 18 months,  he said, noting later that MSOs should strive to make WiFi “bone-dead simple” for the consumer.

However, “you’ll still need a fairly robust [wired] network” underpinning it, Werner added.

While speed doesn’t tell the full consumer story for broadband, “speed is a good place to start,” Kevin Hart, EVP and CTO of Cox Communications said, noting that the MSO has been expanding the deployment of its new 1-Gig “G!GABLAST” residential service. “Speed is a key metric and something the consumer can relate to.”

But latency for gaming and other real-time apps and service reliability are also key metrics that the industry should also continue to pursue and maybe “put branding around.”

Still, 1-Gig is the new billboard speed that cable operators and other ISPs are chasing, even if the use-case isn’t obviously apparent to most broadband users.

But the consumer demand for 1-Gig will grow as people use broadband to consume video on an increasing number of IP-connected devices at once, leverage cloud-based services and apps, and tap broadband to manage and monitor more elements of their homes and lives.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about the Internet of Everything,” Yvette Kanouff, SVP and general manager of Cisco’s service provider video software and solutions group,  said.

Werner agreed that consumer demand for 1-Gig won’t revolve around a solitary, but an accumulation of them, but believes that it will be a long time before that capacity is fully utilized.

“I still think a Gigabit is overkill for some time,” Werner said.

Jeremy Legg, the head of technology and strategy and product monetization at Turner Broadcasting System, noted that beefier broadband can also help programmers develop “smarter content.”

For TV Everywhere apps like CNNGo, Turner is already annotating content as it’s produced live, paving the way for a future in which consumers can essentially “multicast” a feed of CNN tailored for a viewer’s particular  interests.

On the point of smarter content, Werner noted that Comcast is developing an “enhanced content” feature for the MSO’s X1 video platform that will enable programmers to add additional content that can be layered on top of the video feed.

“We very much want the content folks to be on our platform,” Werner said. 

As a rechristened and recast Cable Show, this week’s INTX confab will still offer a variety of tech panels and sessions for the hard core engineer as well as the operations exec who’s looking to get a technology edge.

While it’s impossible to hit every session (please see Leslie Ellis and Tony Werner's preview of  what will be cooking at Imagine Park), here’s a list of sessions that will be on our don't miss list and plunge into key topics and areas that are important today, as well as a few that are expected to factor into the future shape of the broadband and TV industry.

The Broad Strokes

If you seek a multi-faceted, bigger-picture view and a CTO-level discussion on the biggest tech trends, you’d do right by putting this panel on your dance card:

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet: Technology, Innovation & The Future Of Media

-Tuesday, May 5 at 3 p.m. ; Room W470

-On tap: Phil McKinney, CableLabs (moderator); David Dibble (Cablevision Systems); Kevin Hart (Cox Communications); Yvette Kanouff (Cisco Systems); Jeremy Legg (Turner Broadcasting System); and Tony Werner (Comcast).

Gaga for Gigabit

If you’re a cable operator and you aren’t launching gigabit (or even 2-Gig) speeds to residential customers, or have it on your docket, then you just aren’t trying hard enough.  While Google Fiber gets much (too much?) credit for putting 1-Gig on the map and accelerating the deployment of those speeds, it’s clear that gigabit is now a priority for ISPs of all shapes and sizes, whether that’s delivered via fiber-to-the-premises or emerging DOCSIS 3.1 technologies. Pick your poison – all options will be covered this week.

Don’t miss:

Getting The Gig: Realizing the Potential of DOCSIS 3.1

-Wednesday, May 6 at 11:30 a.m.; Room W474

-On tap: Ralph Brown, CableLabs (moderator); Ayham Al-Banna, Mike Emmendorfer, and Carol Ansley, Arris; Scott Helms, Zcorum; Maxwell Huang; Cisco; and Niki Pantelias, Broadcom

Dude, You’re Getting a Gig: The Perils & Promise of Ultra-Fast Access Networks

-Wednesday, May 6 at 4:30 p.m.; Room W474

-On tap: Kevin Leddy, Time Warner Cable (moderator); Philip Nutsugah, Cox; Eric Small, AT&T; and JR Walden, Mediacom Communications.

The Network: Going Soft…and Remote

A hot topic across the telecom sector is the shift from single-purpose hardware to off-the-shelf gear that can be managed and optimized by software – represented by the move toward software-defined networking (SDN) and networks-function virtualization (NFV). With the potential operational benefits they can provide, cable is keying on this trend as it pursues next-gen access architectures such as the “virtual” Converged Cable Access Platform.  While still an arena best suited for the engineering crew, it will play a big role in the future of how cable builds its networks of the future. Tied in, cable’s also looking at access network architectures that are less centralized and monolithic, and instead move some key functionality deeper into the network and closer to the subscriber edge.

Don’t miss:

Software Vs. Silicon: Understanding and Advancing the SDN Revolution

-Tuesday, May 5 at 11:30 a.m.; Room W474

-On tap: John Chapman, Cisco (moderator); Jeff DeMent, Arris; Brian Field and Nagesh Nandiraju, Comcast; Glen Griffith, Ericsson; and James Kim and Karthik Sundaresan, CableLabs.

Remote PHY, When and Why: Approaches for Physical Layer Migration

-Wednesday, May 6 at 8:30 a.m. ; Room W474

-On tap:  Daniel Howard, SCTE  (moderator); Alon Bernstein, Pawel Sowinski, John Chapman and Hang Jin, Cisco; and Dan Lavender and Karthik Sundaresan, CableLabs.

Whipping Up More Wireless

In the U.S., cable’s the king of wired broadband, but the future is mobile and wireless – an area that is becoming a huge focus for cable operators. While access to WiFi in public and business locations is being used primarily as a perk for cable modem subs, operators are expected to look at “WiFi-First” mobile strategies that use cellular as a fallback connection, while others, such as Cablevision Systems’ new Freewheel service, are going with WiFi-only pursuits. Liberty Global, meanwhile, has been using a mixture of WiFi, MVNO deals, and even mobile acquisitions formulate its plan. Expect the next chapter in cable’s wireless and mobile future to begin to take shape this week.

Don’t miss:

Across the Spectrum: Strategies for a Changing Wireless Marketplace

-Tuesday, May 5 at 4:30 p.m.; Room W475

-On tap: Rob Pegararo, USA Today and Yahoo! Tech (moderator); Timothy Burke, Liberty Global; Charles Cheevers, Arris; Dave Mayo, T-Mobile USA; and Tom Nagel, Comcast.

The 411 on OTT

Is over-the-top video friend or foe to the pay TV industry? It’s clearly both, as operators continue to push authenticated TV Everywhere offerings, while others develop and roll out new direct-to-consumer offerings that are causing a rift in the status quo.

Don’t miss:

Why OTT is Their Best Friend: Strategies for Online Video

-Wednesday, May 6 at 9 a.m.; Room W470

-On tap: Colin Dixon, nScreen Media (moderator); Tim Connolly, Hulu; Braxton Jarratt, Clearleap; and Roger Lynch, Sling TV. 

Mitel has struck a $560 million deal to acquire Mavenir Systems, a company that specializes in voice-over-LTE technologies and one that has recently begun to set its sights on the cable industry and its pursuit of voice-over-WiFi services.

With the acquisition, Mitel said it expects to expand its total addressable market by about $14 billion by 2018. Upon closing of the deal, Mavenir will become the mobile business division of Mitel and retain the Mavenir brand. Mavenir president and CEO Pardeep Kohli will join Mitel as president, reporting to Mitel president and CEO Rich McBee.

Mavenir handiwork includes VoLTE with MetroPCS (now T-Mobile) and IMS-based VoWiFi with T-Mobile US.

Mitel is snapping up Mavenir as the company was starting to get aggressive with a WiFi voice strategy aimed at the cable industry.

Last month, Mavenir launched a voice-over-WiFi solution for cable operators that hooks into an operators existing IMS core network and features session control, application/messaging servers, access/border gateways, subscriber management/activation systems, and clients. Taking it a step further, the system is also designed to help MSOs seamlessly connect services on WiFi and cellular networks, possibly in a so-called “WiFi-First” scenarios that prefer WiFi connectivity and use cellular as a backup.

“We already have a trial underway for voice over WiFi that supports those handouts with a major cable provider,” Kohli said February 26 when the company announced its fourth quarter earnings results. He added that Mavenir has two cable trials underway – one in Europe, and one in the U.S.—with hopes that one of them could push ahead toward commercial deployment within the next couple of quarters.

Kohli said Cablevision Systems, which launched a WiFi-only phone service last month called Freewheel, is not using Mavenir’s product, but sees the launch as one that will catalyze more VoWiFi activity among cable operators.

“With wireless adoption of IP and 4G LTE and demand for next gen mobile services ramping quickly, we see a compelling opportunity to capitalize on a major market transition to add a high-growth mobile business to Mitel," said McBee, in a statement. “We believe the combination of Mitel and Mavenir creates a powerful new value proposition for enterprises and mobile service providers, using a common IP technology layer as the foundation for convergence, growth and competitive differentiation."

Mavenir posted a Q4 net loss of $12.3 million, widened from a loss of $2.8 million in the year-ago quarter, on revenues of $33.7 million, up 24% year-over-year. 

Among its features, MobileEdge is capable of integrating multiple licensed WiFi and multi-mode access services on a common platform.

“Casa Systems continues to aggressively innovate and deliver market leading solutions as demonstrated by the announcement of our new MobileEdge solution,” said Casa Systems founder and CEO Jerry Guo, in a statement. “We are leveraging our long and successful experience as a leader in fixed broadband technologies and applying it to the mobile space,”

As Casa execs explained to Multichannel News last month (subscription required), the company’s mobile product strategy centers on WiFi/small cell and wireless backhaul hardware and software for MSOs and wireless service providers.  

Casa’s core business remains cable access network technologies, including cable modem termination systems and converged cable access platforms, but the vendor started to pursue adjacent wireless opportunities in 2012.

According to the company, it launched wireless trials with two operators in Asia and one in Europe in the second half of last year, and it is engaged with about 10 more operators.

With Cablevision Systems' launch of a WiFi-only phone service still fresh in everyone's mind, the topic of how WiFi-fueled services might fit into Comcast’s future was a hot one on the MSO’s fourth quarter earnings call Tuesday.

Comcast is keeping its future wireless plans under wraps, but executives did drop hints that the operator working on new strategies and product ideas that prefer WiFi connectivity and use cellular networks as a backup – a growing service category typically labeled as “WiFi-first.”

Comcast has already deployed about 8.3 million WiFi hotspots  -- through a mix of rollouts in public venues, business locations and in home-side gateways – and has MVNO agreements with Verizon Wireless and Sprint that it has an option to pursue.

“We’re working on how we monetize that [WiFi] asset and bring it to market,” Neil Smit, president and CEO of Comcast Cable, said on the call. “We do believe in the asset and [are] working on ways on bringing it to market in the coming months.”

He said Comcast would make further announcements on its plans “when we have the product well-defined and developed.”

While not yet offering a service akin to Cablevision’s WiFi-only Freewheel offering or a WiFi-First products such as those marketed by companies such as Scratch Wireless and Republic Wireless, Comcast has already dipped its toes in the voice-over-WiFi waters with Voice 2go, a WiFi-based calling feature that’s part of the MSO’s Xfinity Connect app for smartphones and tablets. Voice 2go, launched in 2012, lets customers make and receive calls with via the app using their own home phone number.

Smit was later pressed about whether Comcast characterizes its wireless strategy as an attractive feature or something that could evolve into a new business.

Smit said Comcast could go either way, or take both vectors. “We’re assessing the business opportunity.”

Comcast is not at a point yet that it wants to be “too open about what our wireless plans are going forward,” Michael Angelakis, Comcast vice chairman and CFO, added later. “We are working through all of those issues and technologies internally.”

Comcast appears to be hiring in areas that could push those strategies forward. As reported by The Donohue Report last week, Comcast is hiring in areas aimed at mobilizing its triple-play bundles.

On the video front, Comcast plans to remain aggressive with its rollout of X1, an IP-capable platform that features a cloud-based navigation system that has shown to have a positive impact on VOD usage while also reducing voluntary churn levels. Comcast, which added 6,000 video subs in the fourth quarter of 2014, just completed year one of a three-year plan to have X1 deployed to a majority of its video subs.  

Updating that progress, Angelakis said about half of Comcast's video connections in 2014 was for X1, adding that X1 now makes up about a quarter of Comcast’s base of triple-play customers.

Comcast’s expanded rollout of X1, its cloud DVR, wireless gateways, general infrastructure investments, its ongoing aggressiveness with business services, and the pursuit of new business lines such as Xfinity Home, will result in higher capex spending in 2015. The MSO said it expects cable capital expenditures to increase to about 14.5% of cable revenue in 2015, up from 13.9% of cable revenue in 2014.

Angelakis defended the anticipated increase, reasoning  that Comcast is focusing it on offensive areas that focus on growth and provide good returns. “Not all capex is bad capex,” he said.

The early verdict is that the service shows some promise and a decent option for certain use cases, but will likely serve as a niche product in its current form. 

GigaOm’s Kif Leswing sees Freewheel as a possible blueprint for similar services from other cable operators, but “[i]f you’re looking for a smartphone replacement, you’ll probably find Freewheel to be a disappointing service. But if you want a home phone that you can take with you, then Freewheel might be right for you.” Leswing also noted that it’s not clear to him what Freewheel does better (or cheaper) than traditional mobile phone plans.

On the plus side, he said the Moto G, the first model to support Freewheel, is a “solid device,” and also liked that caller ID is handled via the Freewheel dialer app.

He also liked the service’s call quality and had few troubles when connecting to a strong WiFi signal, but also experienced some of the challenges faced by a WiFi-only service that doesn’t fall back to cellular -- there’s “some wonkiness if you walk out of a network’s range when you’re making a call — you’ll simply lose service.” But he was impressed by Freewheel’s ability to auto-connect to hotspots on Cablevision’s WiFi network.

Check out his full review here.

Consumer Reports also weighed in with a review of its own, which also bemoaned the lack of a cellular backup feature, but agreed with Cablevision’s general stance that Freewheel is best suited for consumers who “spend a lot of time in Wi-Fi-rich environments, including colleges, offices and homes.”

Mike Gikas of Consumer Reports also liked Cablevision’s pick of the Moto G and said its testers were able to maintain calls as they moved around in areas with access to Cablevision’s WiFi network (here’s a video of those testers in action).

Here’s the review’s bottom line:  “A small subset of Cablevision customers may find this new service useful. But until the company adds more phones, brings down the price for all customers, and adds a cellular-connection option, Freewheel will remain a niche product.” 

Cablevision, meanwhile, has said it doesn't feel the need for a cellular backup option because users of Freewheel will be using it predominantly for data. 

Liberty Global used its fourth quarter earnings call on Friday (Feb. 13) to provide an overview of its strategic priorities, including some additional detail on its rollout of WiFi, Horizon (its next-gen TV platform), and its anticipated deployment of DOCSIS 3.1.

On the WiFi side, Liberty Global, which already offers mobile service via MVNO deals, has deployed about 5 million WiFi hotspots so far, and expects to double that to 10 million by the end of 2015, company CEO Mike Fries noted during the call.

In addition to providing more wireless broadband access to Liberty Global customers, that coming expansion will  also benefit Comcast subs in the wake of a a WiFi roaming/peering deal announced by the cable ops last fall.

Fries also said Horizon, the MSO’s next-gen, IP-capable video platform, has surpassed the 1 million subscriber mark, adding that the Horizon Go App is currently offered in eight countries. That work complements Virgin Media’s use of a TiVo-powered platform in the U.K.

Via Horizon and TiVo, one in four of Liberty Global’s digital TV subs now have access to an “advanced TV platform, and that number is ramping up fast,” Fries said, adding that the average Horizon sub generates 20% more ARPU.

On the broadband front, Fries also reiterated that Liberty Global will be trialing DOCSIS 3.1, putting into play a new CableLabs-specified IP platform that is targeting multi-gigabit speeds – up to 10 Gbps down and at least 1 Gbps in the upstream.

Fries also downplayed BT’s work in the U.K. around G.fast, an emerging technology that brings 1-Gig capabilities to DSL networks with short loop lengths. “We don’t think there is any G.fast or any other copper-based technology that is going to put us at a material disadvantage on broadband speeds at all,” he said. 

That D3.1 rollout, Fries added, will be “relatively inexpensive [and a] largely variable cost exercise as it was with [DOCSIS] 2.0 to [DOCSIS] 3.0.”

In Europe, Liberty Global’s average broadband customer is getting 70 Mbps (down) and consuming 70 gigabytes per month, figures that are growing 40% to 50% per year, Fries said, noting that all of the MSO’s systems offer 150 Mbps to 250 Mbps products now, and that the operator has begun to sell 500-meg products in three countries.

At the end of 2014, Liberty Global had 24.5 million unique customers – 21.8 million video subs, 14 million broadband subs, and 12.1 million phone subs.

During the fourth quarter, Liberty Global lost 50,000 video subs, added a record 270,000 broadband customers ,and tacked on 192,000 phone customers.

Liberty Global posted a fourth quarter loss of $121 million (31 cents per share)  on revenues of $4.62 billion, up 72% versus the year-ago quarter, driven primarily by the inclusion of Virgin Media, which was acquired by Liberty Global last June.

In yet another of example of how significant WiFi and other wireless technologies are becoming to the cable industry, CableLabs is seeking a high-level executive and other important engineering slots that will be focused on the hot area. 

According to current job postings, CableLabs is looking for a vice president of wireless who will head up the wireless access R&D group at the MSO-backed Louisville, Colo.-based group.

While the new VP, who will need expertise in WiFi, Passpoint, 3G, LTE and emerging 5G technologies, will be tasked with identifying opportunities and maintaining short- and long-term wireless-facing roadmaps and strategies, the wireless access group that person leads will be responsible for “project execution and strategy related to all aspects of wireless.”  

CableLabs is also looking to hire a principal architect – wireless technologies who will be focused on physical layer and RF engineering, and contribute to broadband engineering team R&D projects, including specs development, modeling and measurement.

CableLabs confirmed that Dan Rice, senior vice president of network technology, is currently leading the group’s wireless efforts.

The positions being sought now are clear indicators that CableLabs plans to amplify its focus on wireless, which is rapidly becoming a component of the cable industry’s broadband arsenal.

As was clear at the SCTE Cable-Tex Expo last fall, CableLabs is pushing ahead with projects, activities and cross-industry partnerships tied to “carrier-grade” WiFi, work that will enhance the industry’s growing network of hotspots. In addition to tapping them to supply data, the cable industry is expected to take a closer look at WiFi-first voice strategies that  use cellular as a backup. Cablevision Systems, meanwhile, just launched a WiFi-only phone service called Freewheel.

And CableLabs is keeping close tabs on potential concerns, including LTE Unlicensed, an expanded use of LTE that could dominate unlicensed spectrum and possible knock out  WiFi. As CableLabs CEO Phil McKinney noted last fall, the R&D house is trying to head off this potential issue by working with the LTE and WiFi industries on technical approaches that would enable better spectrum sharing.

Intraway Corp., a maker of software for operational and business support systems, said it has developed a new tool that lets broadband subs self-manage their WiFi DOCSIS devices from a Web-based interface.

When activated, that capability allows customers to change and recover passwords and SSIDs, and select individual WiFi channels, the company said, noting that it’s now an add-on to its Provisioning Suite and aims to reduce customer calls to MSOs.

Intraway is introducing the tool as cable operators expand the rollout of DOCSIS-powered gateways that build in WiFi and other home networking components. It’s also coming into view as MSOs such as Comcast and Cablevision Systems employ “homespots” that enable those routers to emit secondary SSID signals that can be accessed by other credentialed broadband customers.

"Password recovery is one of the most frequent requests that customer service representatives receive,” Patricio Latini, SVP of broadband communications at Intraway, said in a statement. “Currently, the majority of solutions allow users to change passwords, but do not remind them of a saved password. This represents an important setback for the user, who today has multiple devices connected to the local wireless network. With this new tool, we will help to improve the satisfaction of end-users, who will now have the possibility of recovering their passwords for their home networks by themselves.”

Intraway’s customers include Cablemas, Mediacom Communications, Cablevision of Mexico, and Cable Onda of Panama, among others. 

Cox has expanded the reach of its growing WiFi network with its expected deployment in Las Vegas, in time for next month’s big gadget-fest, the Consumer Electronics Show.

Cox said that deployment and its recent WiFi launch in Phoenix involve more than 1,700 addition hotspots to a WiFi deployment that now reaches six markets. Cox has already deployed WiFi hotspots in parts of Northern Virginia; Sun Valley, Idaho; Connecticut; and Omaha, Neb.

Cox said it will launch WiFi in “many more” markets next year, with San Diego to be among the first in line.

Cox subs who take the MSO’s Preferred, Premier, Ultimate and new but limited GIGABLAST Internet packages can access those hotspots, which emit the “CoxWiFi” SSID, as part of their service.

Cox is also a member of a Cable WiFi roaming group that also includes Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision Systems, and Bright House Networks. That group has deployed more than 300,000 hotspots so far.

Charter Communications told Multichannel News recently that it will also join the mix as it moves ahead with its Spectrum WiFi platform.

"In addition to the incredible speeds Cox offers in the home, our customers want access to reliable high speed Internet wherever they are," said Len Barlik, executive vice president of product development and management at Cox Communications, in a statement. "Providing them Cox WiFi service allows us to meet their changing information access needs, whether it's TV programming, social connections, home monitoring or simply general information that is reliable from the four walls of their home to the four corners of their community. Cox provides solutions not only today but for the future, as well."

Cable operators and mobile network operators will place a big bet on “carrier-grade” WiFi networks in the coming years as “best-effort” WiFi networks become less and less profitable, Real Wireless and rethink Technology Research found in a new study commissioned by Amdocs.

Among operators, carrier-grade WiFi hotspots will grow from 14% today to 72% of overall WiFi hotspots by 2018, the study predicted, noting that the trend will be in response to the need for improved capacity and quality for services such as video streaming (including authenticated TV Everywhere services), health monitoring, online gaming, IP voice applications, as well as a broader desire to carve out new revenue streams from their expanding wireless broadband networks.

The cable industry, which is rapidly deploying hotspots in and out of the customer home, has already started to place a heavy emphasis on carrier-grade WiFi. CableLabs, for example, is working with several standards groups on products and tools that will utilize standards and specifications that will help MSOs develop and manage carrier-grade WiFi networks. That effort will include a focus on providing a consistent user experience and network management practices. The study points out that MSOs believe carrier grade WiFi can improve their position when negotiating mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) deals. 

Among other findings and forecasts from the Amdocs-commissioned study:

-By 2016, 77 percent of service providers plan to use “homespots” (where the user agrees to leave the hotspot open for use by passers-by), growing from 30 percent today. In the U.S., Comcast and Cablevision Systems are among the early adopters.

-85% of operators plan to invest in carrier-grade WiFi by 2016, as MSOs see carrier-grade --By the end of 2016, 61% MSO’s WiFi hotspots, and 70% of those deployed by MNOs will be sourced from third parties to take advantage of shared cost savings and accelerated deployment, up from 45% today.

“Service providers are starting to see WiFi as a strategically important offering that can enhance or damage their reputations and which needs to support a user experience comparable to that of cellular networks,” said Oliver Bosshard, managing consultant at Real Wireless, in a statement. “Best-effort WiFi networks are not controlled from the operator’s core network or operational support systems tools, and the access points often do not support any form of traffic management or prioritization. As a result, operators are unable to monitor or address performance issues such as congestion, meaning they cannot guarantee QoE - properties such as connection speed, latency or prioritization that are all critical to enable the monetization options for Wi-Fi.”

Amdocs, which released the study in tandem with this week’s Small Cells Americas show in Dallas, said the research was conducted between August and October 2014 with WiFi managers from 40 service providers in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America.

Following the initial deployment of its super-speedy “G1GABLAST’ wireline broadband service in Phoenix, Cox Communications is now giving some attention to wireless there with the initial launch of more than 500 WiFi hotspots.

The deployment initially covers parts of Phoenix’s City District 3. Cox plans to deploy more than 1,200 hotspots in other Phoenix-area communities by the end of the year, and has set a goal to deploy more than 2,500 in metro Phoenix by the end of 2015.

Cox has already deployed more than 2,500 WiFi hotspots in parts of Virginia, Connecticut, and Omaha, Neb. Cox intends to add Las Vegas to the list later this year.

Credentialed Cox high-speed Internet subs have free access to those hotspots, as well as the 300,000-plus hot spots that have been collectively deployed by its "Cable WiFi" roaming partners -- Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Cablevision Systems.

“In addition to the incredible speeds Cox offers in the home, our customers want access to reliable high speed Internet wherever they are,” said Susan Anable, VP of public affairs, Cox Southwest Region, in a statement. “Cox has invested more than $3 billion in Arizona communities through infrastructure upgrades since 1996. This investment has readied us to take the step of offering hotspots all over the Valley, so our customers can access the Internet not just within the walls of their home, but to the corners of their community.”

Time Warner Cable said it has begun to light up a metro WiFi network in San Diego that encompasses more than 300 hotspots today, and will expand by “hundreds” more by the end of 2014.

The initial WiFi build in San Diego is focused on heavily populated areas in Carlsbad, Coronado, Del Mar, La Jolla, Mission Beach and Pacific Beach.

With the additions, TWC has installed more than 17,000 hotspots in Southern California, and more than 46,000 nationwide, thanks to deployments in parts of Austin, Texas; Kansas City; Hawaii; Charlotte, N.C.; and New York City.

TWC is also a member of a “Cable WiFi” roaming alliance that has deployed  more than 250,000 hotspots, and includes participation from Comcast, Cablevision Systems, Bright House Networks and Cox Communications.

“We know that being connected to the Internet wherever you are is a hugely important feature, so we’ll continue to invest to bring WiFi to areas where our customers live, work and play,” said Deborah Picciolo, SVP of operations for Time Warner Cable, in a statement. “It’s like taking your home Internet service with you. That’s why WiFi deployment continues to be a top initiative for Time Warner Cable and we are thrilled to be expanding to San Diego.”

TWC, which has historically sourced WiFi gear from Ericsson, Cisco Systems and Ruckus Wireless, has also been equipping its WiFi network with Hotspot 2.0 technology that supports cellular-like handoff capabilities.

A TWC official confirmed that the MSO is using Ruckus equipment for the San Diego buildout.

Time Warner Cable said it has installed 235 WiFi access points spanning the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, home of the U.S. Open tennis championships now underway in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

The WiFi deployment is TWC’s largest public venue installation to date, the MSO said in this blog post.

And visitors don't have to be a TWC broadband subscriber to partake. As part of its five-year agreement with the US Tennis Association, TWC has agreed to offer complimentary WiFi to all U.S. Open visitors during the two-week grand slam event.  

TWC said Open attendees "can access unlimited free WiFi throughout the tournament" by connecting to one of two available SSIDs: “USOpen2014” or “TWC WiFi.”

“We are excited to expand our sponsorship of the US Open,” said Jeffrey A. Hirsch, EVP, chief marketing/sales officer of residential services at Time Warner Cable. “We’re all increasingly reliant on WiFi and our phones, so we’re happy that we can help fans get what they need without missing any of the action.”

TWC's WiFi work for the U.S. Open spotlights the cable's industry's broader efforts around the technology.

TWC is also a member of a “Cable WiFi” roaming consortium that also involves Comcast, Cox Communications, Cablevision Systems and Bright House Networks. Together, they’ve deployed more than 250,000 hotspots that are available to their respective broadband customers.

Speaking at the “Tech It Out” conference last week in Philadlephia put on by the local Women In Cable & Telecommunications chapter, Mike Hayashi, TWC’s EVP of architecture, development and engineering, estimated that 60% of the MSO’s access points are in outdoor locations, with the balance installed indoors.

WiFi “is a tremendous enabler for our business,” Hayashi said, noting that recent data shows that TWC supports about of 17 million wireless sessions on its WiFi network each month, with about one-fifth of that traffic coming way of the MSO’s roaming partners. That has resulted in about 240 terabytes of traffic, meaning single average usage is in the neighborhood of 17 megabytes.

Offering an approach that it believes will provide some key aid to cable operator-driven WiFi deployment strategies, Ruckus Wireless has rolled out what it claims is the industry’s first carrier-class virtualized wireless LAN controller.

Ruckus, which sells WiFi gear to operators such as Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, said the approach will help carriers scale up their deployments by using this new cloud-based approach to WLAN management.

The approach also hits on a bigger trend – network functions virtualization (NFV), a budding approach that decouples the apps from the hardware, allowing operators to run those apps on off-the-shelf gear rather than pricier proprietary equipment.

Ruckus, said Steve Hratko, the company’s director of service provider marketing, is bridging NFV to the wireless LAN, believing it will play a big role in helping carriers deliver managed wireless services, including subscriber-based and cellular offload services, on a massive basis. Going virtual will allow operators to add capacity and management features without having to install and buy new physical appliances, he said.

Cable’s already got a big WiFi buildout underway. MSO members of the Cable WiFi roaming alliance (Comcast, Cablevision Systems, Bright House, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable) have already deployed more than 250,000 hotspots. Of that group, Comcast believes it will exceed 8 million managed, quasi-public WiFi hotspots when factoring in deployments in business locations, at outdoor venues and in customer-side gateways.

To scale up, the backend management systems for those need to become more centralized and virtualized, Hratko said, noting that Ruckus is using OpenStack to manage the new cloud-based infrastructure.

The first app Ruckus is tucking into the cloud is what it now calls its virtual SmartCell Gateway (vSCG), claiming that it can be configured to allow multiple service providers share an “instance” of the gateway setting them up to enable service level agreements on their own, rather than relying on a service offering from a vendor.

Under Ruckus’s model, service providers purchase a license for each instance of the vSCG deployed, and purchase additional licenses as more access points need to be supported. Starting in June, Ruckus said a perpetual software license for each instance of the vSCG will run $995, plus a perpetual license fee of $100 for each Ruckus ZoneFlex access point (the first device to support the vSCG) installed in each network.

Hratko said a global managed service provider with 15 data centers, 10,000 access points and more than 100,000 clients is currently testing the vSCG. Management of them all ties back to the company’s backend systems, he said. Among early adopters of the vSCG Frontiir, a managed service provider in Southeast Asia, and Global Gossip, a provider headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

Customers of Ruckus’s original, non-virtualized SCG include TWC, Suddenlink Communications, Bright House, Cablevision of Mexico, Sprint, AT&T, Telstra, SingTel, BskyB, Orange, and KDDI, among others.

Cox Communications confirmed a report that the operator will light up hundreds of WiFi hotspots soon in Omaha, expanding on earlier deployments in Northern Virginia and parts of Connecticut.

According to The Omaha World Herald, Cox will turn up more than 500 hotspots on May 20 in areas such as Council Bluffs, downtown and midtown Omaha, and in Dundee and Benson. Cox will later extend its reach into Bellevue, Papillion, La Vista, Millard and northwest Omaha.

With the current crop of equipment factored in later this month, Cox will have deployed more than 2,000 hotspots, according to a Cox official. Cox is also a member of the Cable WiFi roaming alliance (Comcast, Cablevision Systems, Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable are the others), which have collectively deployed more than 250,000 WiFi hotspots.

Cox provides access to its WiFi network to broadband customers of its Cable WiFi partners as well as to its own cable modem subs who take at least its Internet Preferred tier.

Using a mix of quasi-public hotspots deployed in outdoor locations, businesses and on customer-side DOCSIS gateways, Comcast said its WiFi network will span 8 million hotspots by the end of the year.

Comcast, which announced it had surpassed the 1 million mark earlier this month, said it will be boosting that number throughout the year by deploying hotspots in several markets, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Hartford, Houston, Indianapolis, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C.

Usage is also on the rise. Comcast said nearly 200 million out-of-home sessions have been initiated on its WiFi network so far this year, a 700% increase versus the same period last year.

“Wireless access is increasingly important to our customers, and we are building a network that not only meets today’s needs but also stays ahead of tomorrow’s demands,” Marcien Jenckes, executive vice president of consumer services for Comcast Cable, said in a statement. “Xfinity WiFi is a reliable, fast resource for millions of customers who want access to the Internet, anytime, anywhere. We’ll add millions more hotspots this year in the places where our customers live and work.”

Comcast does not break down how many hotspots it has deployed outdoors, at business location and by the lighting up a second "xfinitywifi” SSID signal on DOCSIS-powered Xfinity Wireless Gateways in customer homes. Regarding the latter, Comcast said about 54% of Xfinity’s “neighborhood” WiFi usage travels over the second SSID.

MSO members of the “Cable WiFi” roaming alliance (Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision Systems, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks) announced Monday that they had collectively deployed more than 250,000 hotspots.

Although there are indications that these MSOs might use their growing wireless broadband networks to  support a “WiFi First” approach that uses cellular mobile networks as a fallback, they are using it today primarily as a value add for cable-modem subscribers who need broadband connectivity on the go.