Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is the first U.S. cable operator to announce wide-scale DOCSIS 3.1 deployment.

In "early 2016," the MSO said it will roll out gigabit-speed, DOCSIS 3.1 Internet service for residential and business customers in Atlanta and Nashville, with deployment in Chicago, Detroit and Miami coming in the second half of the year.

"Combined with all the upgrades we have already put into our advanced fiber optic-coax network, this technology will not only provide more gigabit speed choices for customers, it will also eventually make these ultra-fast speeds available to the most homes in our service areas," said Comcast Central Division President Bill Connors.

Comcast is not yet disclosing when it will roll out DOCSIS 3.1 in the rest of its footprint. Earlier, the company said it would complete its deployment in 2018.

In December, Comcast said it established the first real-world deployment of a "gigabit-class" DOCSIS 3.1 modem on a customer-facing network in its home city of Philadelphia.

Comcast is among a number of U.S. cable operators transitioning to CableLabs' DOCSIS 3.1 standard in an effort to compete with fiber-based network operators offering broadband speeds of 1 gigabit per second and higher. DOCSIS 3.1 networks are capable of download speeds of up to 10 Gbps and upload speeds of up to 1 Gbps.

Last year, Comcast launched residential fiber-based 2 Gbps symmetrical service in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Miami and Nashville. The service is now available to 18 million Comcast customers.

For more:

- read this Comcast press release

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