ABI Research has forecast that nearly 9 million broadband subscribers will be on DOCSIS 3.1 equipment by next year.

According to the report, the seemingly large figure represents just one percent of the total number of fixed broadband subscriptions worldwide.

ABI Research principal analyst Michael Inouye said a number of DOCSIS 3.1 solutions are already commercially available from vendors like SAGEMCOM, Technicolor and Teleste Corporation and have garnered a strong market response in Western Europe. The technology, ABI said, will help address a growing demand for broadband content and services that require gigabit speeds.

 “The DOCSIS 3.1-ready products and solutions are able to achieve 1.2 GHz bandwidth, and some, like those from Teleste, started shipping in 2014,” Inouye said. “Meanwhile, operators in the United States are showing interest, with cable players like Comcast, Cox and Midcontinent (scheduled) to launch their DOCSIS 3.1 networks in 2016 and 2017.”

Comcast in particular is chomping at the bit to deploy the new technology. The U.S. operator has said in the past that it will push deployments throughout 2016 and plans to cover its entire network footprint with DOCSIS 3.1 by 2018.

Earlier this month, U.S. cable industry research and development lab CableLabs issued the first DOCSIS 3.1 certifications to five cable modem vendors.

“In instances in which corporations and homes already installed cable, it is more economical to upgrade cable services than make the switch to fiber, which gives DOCSIS 3.1 a definite advantage in the market space,” said ABI Research managing director and vice president Sam Rosen.

Rosen said deployments of ultra-broadband networks could ultimately pave the way for cable operators to make the jump to a pure IPTV over DOCSIS network, but noted that no major players are publicly considering that approach.