Comcast today announced that the carrier has launched faster DOCSIS 3.0 speeds in their hometown market of Philadelphia. Upgraded DOCSIS 3.0 Comcast markets see the company's $42.95 "Performance" tier doubled to 12Mbps/2Mbps, while their $52.95 "Performance Plus" tier jumps from 8Mbps/2Mbps to 16Mbps/2Mbps. Upgraded markets also see two new tiers that require new DOCSIS 3.0 modems: $62.95 "Ultra" 22Mbps/5Mbps and "Extreme 50" 50Mbps/10Mbps, the price of which recently dropped to $99 a month.

Philadelphia mayor Michael A. Nutter was quick to lavish praise on the politically-potent carrier. "I applaud Comcast and their efforts to be the first to bring the benefits of advanced wideband Internet to all areas of our city," said Nutter in a statement. "We are proud of hometown companies like Comcast that enrich our lives through their innovation and investment."

If you recall, Comcast and Verizon spent a good part of this year fighting over Verizon's FiOSTV expansion into Philadelphia. Comcast tried to stall Verizon's deployment to the city by feigning indignation about cherry picking, while Verizon took aim at Comcast's substantially lower HD channel count in their own hometown.

Meanwhile, with the Philly DOCSIS 3.0 launch, Comcast tells us that the carrier has already covered almost 50% of their footprint with DOCSIS 3.0. "That’s 25 million homes and businesses have these speeds available today," Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas tells us. "We’re making clear progress on our goal to reach 65% by the end of this year and 100% of the roll out by the end of 2010," he says.

Comcast's plan remains substantially more ambitious than any other major cable carrier. The nation's second-largest carrier, Time Warner Cable, has yet to launch DOCSIS 3.0 in a single market. Third-largest operator Cox Communications is slightly more ambitious, having launched DOCSIS 3.0 in more competitive parts of Louisiana, Arizona and Virginia. Fourth-placed operator Charter Communications has launched service in parts of St. Louis, though they're struggling with bankruptcy and reorganization.