Senior executives in the European broadband cable industry speaking at the Cable Congress 2013 in London have expressed their confidence in its ability to compete effectively against telco players.

Reporting revenue growth for 2012 of 6.5 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively for Internet and cable telephony, Cable Europe President Manuel Kohnstamm said that cable was “capable of meeting telco competition,” with the trade body’s executive chairman Matthias Kurth stressing that whereas the position of cable had been underestimated in the past, politicians now saw it as important for policy goals, suggesting that member state desires for achieving Fibre to the Home via telco networks were understandable, but too expensive. “Cable needs less equipment and is more cost-effective,” he declared.

Annet Aris, Board Member at Kabel Deutschland suggested that cable has a few years to make its mark before other networks build out and catch up. “Let’s really pick our battles,” she asked of delegates.

Panellists at the Congress’s CTO panel also felt that forthcoming technological innovations would help maintain cable’s lead over competing networks, the DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem introduction – anticipated in 2015 – would allow 1Gb to the home over HFC networks. “It’ll be part of an ongoing tool kit,” stated Virgin Media’s Dan Hennessy. “ It will give us a substantial advantage over what you can do over twisted copper, ” he claimed, suggesting that cable would be able to do for a tenth of what it would cost other networks.

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