Virgin Media has achieved broadband speeds of 2.2Gbps in two trials taking place in Manchester and Southampton.
The multi-gigabit speeds are around 40 times faster than the local average broadband speeds.
The trial has taken place using DOCSIS 3.1 technology.
Although Virgin is already the UK’s largest gigabit broadband provider, capable of delivering speeds of 1,130Mbps to 7.1 million homes, it needs to demonstrate its prowess against both the incumbent BT and the network of smaller fibre operators around the UK.
Jeanie York, Virgin Media’s Chief Technology and Information Officer, said: “We invest more than £1 billion into our network every year to deliver leading connectivity today, but our talented teams never stop pushing forward to ensure we’re ready to power our customers’ connectivity needs for whatever comes next.”
Virgin Media has carried out the proof-of-concept trial to showcase the future speeds which can be delivered via the same network that already connects millions of customers across the country, without the need for additional infrastructure or civil engineering works.
Virgin Media’s engineers were able to deliver the multi-gigabit speeds to homes in Southampton and Manchester using the operator’s latest router, the Hub 4. The router is Virgin Media’s fastest to date and comes as standard with its gigabit broadband service, Gig1.