14 DAY TRIAL // As the demand for higher connection speeds increases, new technologies and solutions are developed in order to meet the users' needs. And one of the most important means through which these high-speed services can be provided is the cable TV system.
Thus, the Finnish company Teleste announced that it plans to bring 100-Mbps broadband to cable TV users, and the speed boost, which is 50 times the speed of today's cable broadband, could be seen as early as 2006, claimed the company, according to the NewsFactor Network.
Similar data transmission speeds are possible over fiber networks, but these cost much more for the operators to build.
"This is a cost-efficient technology, as we use the cable TV networks which are already in place," Jukka Rinnevaara, chief executive of small-cap Finnish broadband equipment maker Teleste, told Reuters.
The technology uses a system that Teleste calls Virtual Fibre, which runs in the cable operator's facilities and interfaces with a cable-based Ethernet connection in the home to deliver standard Ethernet in conjunction with a television signal.
The Ethernet signal is provided "without the need of a modem or active device in the house," according to the company. "The subscriber can simply plug his computer in the wall outlet," claimed Teleste. The wall-outlet fitting would convert the mixed Ethernet-cable signal to a pure Ethernet signal.
Teleste, whose rivals include big U.S. firms Scientific Atlanta and Cisco Systems, said that early next year it will bring to the market its Ethernet-to-the-home product, which will give consumers access to speeds of up to 100mbps, as reported by ZDNet.
The Finnish company said that it expects first rival technology to be on the market at the earliest in the second quarter of 2007.
As for the pricing, the subscription fee could range between US$60 and $241, says Teleste.