NBN Co has announced it has "started enabling cutting edge cable technology DOCSIS 3.1 on its HFC network as it starts to significantly increase HFC activations in the coming months".

"Implementing DOCSIS 3.1 doubles the downstream capacity on the HFC network, which will serve around three million premises across the country by 2020," the company, which is rolling out Australia's national broadband network, the NBN, said.

"The technology improves the online experience for homes and businesses by helping to ensure there is sufficient capacity available to meet demand – especially at peak-usage times."

NBN Co tells us that DOCSIS 3.1 technology, which has already been launched by "several US cable operators such as Comcast and Cox Communications, significantly improves the spectral efficiency of the HFC network and allows NBN Co to use new higher range spectrum therefore doubling the capacity available".

"This will prove a key benefit for NBN Co on our HFC network given that around 75% of new end-user premises coming onto the nbn network are now taking either 50Mbps or 100Mbps services with nearly 50% of our 4.1 million activated premises now on 50Mbps or above speeds.

"Prior to launching DOCSIS 3.1, the only way NBN Co could increase capacity on the HFC network was by installing new optical nodes, a process known as node-splitting, to reduce the number of premises served by the existing optical nodes on the network.

"Using technology from our HFC technology partner ARRIS, NBN Co is planning to deploy DOCSIS 3.1 technology across the vast majority of the NBN Co HFC broadband access network by 2020 in both the downstream and upstream directions.

"As DOCSIS 3.1 is brought onto the network on an area-by-area basis, most end-users should have immediate access to the technology as their existing NBN Co Network Termination Device (NTD) inside their home is already fitted with DOCSIS 3.1 capable technology.

"The use of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulation technology and a more advanced Forward Error Correction (FEC) method as part of DOCSIS 3.1 will also help to provide a more reliable and stable connection for end-users on the network."

Ray Owen, chief technology officer at NBN Co, said: “NBN Co has worked hard on the introduction of DOCSIS 3.1 onto the HFC network and we are very proud to be able to launch the technology onto the network.

“This is another example of NBN Co using cutting-edge technology to help deliver a better experience for Australians on the nbn broadband access network.

“Although DOCSIS 3.1 does enable higher speeds on HFC networks, that is not our core focus at this present time.

“From an NBN Co point of view DOCSIS 3.1 will help us increase capacity on the HFC network far more efficiently than conducting new optical node splits which will, in turn, free up construction resources elsewhere to complete the network build by 2020.

“In addition, we also look forward to the benefits that DOCSIS 3.1 will help bring on the operational side of the network in delivering a more stable and resilient network for end-users.”

NBN Co reminds us that it "started reselling HFC services in late June, following around six months of work to optimise the network. It expects to release around 100,000 homes and businesses on the HFC network to retailers every month through to April next year".