Canadian cable operator Vidéotron Ltd. has concluded that it needs a “fiber richer” network and now plans to deploy a technique known as “node splitting” to drive fiber closer to the customer and provide higher bandwidth. The network upgrade will be deployed throughout the Greater Montréal Area, passing 1.8 million homes.

 

Vidéotron is using Aurora Networks Fiber Deep gear, essentially replacing an existing network that uses fiber to reach neighborhoods of “less than 1,000 homes.” That is about par for the course for today’s North American cable systems, which typically use fiber to serve neighborhoods of 500 to 1,000 homes.

 

The new network will aim to deploy fiber in a way that reduces neighborhoods served to about 125 homes for each optical node. That provides much more bandwidth to end users, as the total optical bandwidth is shared by users connected to that fiber node. Downstream bandwidth will be important, as Videotron plans to increase its menu of targeted channels.

 

But smaller serving areas also help with upstream bandwidth, an equally important new need.