Vic ISP upgrades HFC to 100Mbps

in brief TransACT subsidiary Neighbourhood Cable has announced that it will upgrade its hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) network to be able to achieve broadband speeds of 100Mbps.

Currently the cable allows end users to reach speeds of 30Mbps. The new faster speeds will be achieved by upgrading to the DOCSIS 3.0 specification as Telstra recently did for its Melbourne HFC cable. Optus also began a DOCSIS 3.0 upgrade for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in November last year.

Neighbourhood Cable's upgrade will be rolled out to Ballarat, Geelong and Mildura over the next nine months, with the first fast services to be available at the end of this year.

"As part of our continuing commitment to regional Victoria and belief in high-speed broadband networks, this upgrade enables us to improve broadband speeds to our existing customers, and also offer new ultra-fast broadband plans equivalent to the Federal Government's NBN [National Broadband Network]," Neighbourhood Cable chief executive officer Ivan Slavich said in a statement.