Cablevision Systems officially completed a network upgrade process that began five years ago. Cablevision's entire 40,000-mile network has been upgraded to at least 750 megahertz. Highly concentrated population areas have been upgraded to 860 megahertz. The network passes approximately 4.4 million homes in the New York metropolitan area and comprises the nation's largest contiguous cable system. The network upgrade was launched in 1998.
Cablevision also announced that it had already achieved its 2003 year-end guidance for between 1,025,000 and 1,050,000 high-speed data customers, and will exceed its guidance of between 875,000 and 900,000 digital cable customers by the end of the year.
http://www.cablevision.com
- Last month, Cablevision extended its digital voice-over-cable telephony service across its footprint of nearly 4 million homes in the New York metropolitan area. Cablevision's Optimum Voice service was introduced on a trial basis earlier this year and officially launched throughout Long Island in late September. The service provides unlimited local, regional and long-distance calling across the U.S. and Canada for a flat rate of $34.95 per month. It includes five custom calling features.
In September 2003, Cablevision said its "Optimum Voice" was being delivered using a Siemens' softswitch. Capacity for 100,000 lines had been installed and the company said it is ready to scale as demand requires.
Among the early trial users of its VoIP residential service, Cablevision found that 33% were buying it as an additional line, 37% were buying it as a replacement for all existing phone service, and 29% were buying it as a second line replacement.
