Virgin Media is to launch a 100 Mbps broadband service by the end of 2010, by far the fastest available speed in the UK. Although Virgin been broadly capable of meeting its European peers, there have been no commercial pressures to increase speeds. Extra capacity is being made available on the network by the switch off of the remaining analogue services.
The cablenet says the new top speed will give its customers 24 times the average speed available from other ISPs. Its network reaches a little over half of the country, representing 12.6 million homes.
The introduction of 100 Mbps means Virgin will have increased its top speed from 20 Mbps to 100 Mbps in less than two years.
Virgin Media’s chief executive officer, Neil Berkett, said the flagship 100 Mbps service would give customers the ultimate broadband experience. “Just as we led the way by launching the UK’s first ever next generation service, we want to keep giving our customers the very best broadband available, by investing in technological innovation and transforming the experience they have when they are online. The launch of Virgin Media’s 100Mb service will be a historic moment and will mean the UK will be comparable to other leading broadband nations.”
Separately, Virgin Media has announced it will extend its 200 Mbps broadband pilot to Coventry. The existing pilot began in Kent in May 2009 and has also included home teleconferencing and the download of HD programmes on demand.
