As we've noted countless times, Comcast had promised to have 65% of their network upgraded to DOCSIS 3.0 technology by the end of this year, and 100% of their network upgraded by the end of 2010. In addition to doubling the speeds on existing tiers, the upgrades deliver new $62.95 22Mbps/5Mbps and $99 "Extreme 50" 50Mbps/10Mbps tiers, both of which require a new DOCSIS 3.0 modem. Comcast now tells us that the deployment is going so well, they should be able to accomplish considerably more installs than originally predicted.

"We have raised our goal to roll out DOCSIS 3.0 to nearly 80% of our national footprint before the end of this year," Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas tells us. "That would mean passing about 40 million homes and businesses with the new wideband offerings Extreme 50 and Ultra 22, in addition to doubling speeds for existing Premier customers for no additional cost," he notes.

Comcast already provides the service to the Twin Cities, the Boston Metropolitan region and parts of Southern New Hampshire, parts of Hartford, the City of Philadelphia as well as the greater metropolitan area, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, parts of New Jersey, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Ft. Wayne, Chattanooga, Portland, Eugene, Seattle and Spokane. The next market should be announced within weeks, Comcast tells us.

"I think part of raising the estimate is just we are getting it implemented and we are a little further along the line and continue to be big believers in it," Comcast COO Stephen Burke said this morning on a conference call with analysts. "I think everybody in the industry eventually is going to put DOCSIS 3.0 pretty much everywhere and it is just a question of how fast you go."