Liberty Global launches new wifi gateway to the connected home

Cable company Liberty Global has launched a new wifi and telephony gateway, with an in-built data modem and wifi router, which can download at up to 1 Gbps.

The gateway is already available to Telenet customers in Belgium and Romania and will be introduced by the rest of Liberty’s operating companies in Europe in December. Liberty currently operates in 14 countries.

The launch of the new wifi-telephony gateway is a departure from Liberty Global’s normal product strategy, it said, since it is the first time it has designed a universal, locally branded broadband product to be rolled out across both European and Latin American markets. The product was developed in partnership with the manufacturers Arris and Compal.

The device is powered by software developed by Celeno, which juggles the device’s computing and networking resources to create the highest possible speeds over wifi to multiple devices. The box is designed to be user-friendly with a simplified LED display and an install wizard that promises to simplify home wifi customisation.

Liberty Global has created a network of six million public wifi spots in Europe and has a stated target of creating 10 million wifi access points in 2016.

A new generation of Liberty wifi and telephony gateway product aims is needed to match the impact of its high-speed fiber networks across Europe, according to Doron Hacmon, MD for Liberty Global’s Products and Online Media Group. Customers need a more reliable internet experience and have started to demand the same seamless wifi connectivity at home that they get at work, said Hacmon.

Liberty Global has a reported audience of 27 million customers subscribing to 56 million television, broadband internet and telephony services, with 5 million mobile subscribers.