Hungary’s Magyar Telekom has launched a 1Gbps/25Mbps (download/upload) HFC cable broadband internet service, doubling its previous fastest cable broadband speed. The upgraded service is based on DOCSIS 3.1 technology which Telekom has deployed to 650,000 premises across areas around the country, covering the majority of its 800,000-plus premises HFC DOCSIS 3.0 network. The telco noted that the DOCSIS 3.1 launch boosts its gigabit-speed fixed broadband network footprint to more than 1.7 million homes and businesses, based on direct fibre-optic access (with speeds offered up to 2Gbps/1Gbps down/upload) and cable, in total representing over a third of all business and residential premises in Hungary. CEO Tibor Rekasi announced: ‘The recent development allows for offering extra fast internet to our customers via another new technology … in the long run, our objective is to construct gigabit networks in the whole of the country, continuously replacing copper networks.’
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Magyar Telekom’s cable broadband subscriber base reached 411,500 by end-June 2019, an increase of 32,700 in twelve months and representing nearly 35% of its total retail broadband subscribers. The telco’s retail fibre broadband subscribers are growing at a faster rate, however, reaching nearly 250,000 at 30 June 2019 (accounting for 21% of total customers), up by 72,600 in a year. GlobalComms also notes that Telekom has offered IPTV-over-cable since 2010, causing its cable TV subscribers to dwindle to 108,600 by mid-2019, as IPTV users continued to grow to 760,500 (over xDSL, FTTx and HFC networks), up by 95,500 in a year.
Furthermore, Telekom disclosed that over half a million customers have now chosen its Magenta 1 discount fixed and mobile bundles, launched four years ago, with extra features added this month – the ‘Telekom Bill’ showing both home and mobile services in the same document, a ‘Net Guarantee’, and a free HBO GO TV option until the end of this year.