Broadband News

Virgin Media 100Mb broadband roll-out ahead of schedule

Monday 6 February, 2012

By Anthony Hill

10 million homes can now get Britain's fastest broadband

Virgin Media is making progress on its bid to deliver the UK's fastest broadband to customers across its entire network.

The leading cable provider can now offer superfast speeds of up to 100Mb, to 10 million homes nationwide, giving customers an online experience 13 times quicker than the average.

Virgin Media’s 100Mb fibre broadband service is available for the first time in cabled areas up and down the country. It gives users access to speeds that allow downloads of high-quality movies in less than a couple of minutes.

The quicker speeds are being rolled-out as increasing demand for online data shows no sign of slowing down. As households connect to the web via computers, TVs, games consoles, tablets and smartphones, Virgin Media is carrying twice as much data as two years ago.

In fact, during peak periods internet traffic on Virgin Media’s network exceeds three-quarters of a terabit per second. At such as rate, it is possible to download enough books to fill 28 miles of shelving every minute.

Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media, said: “Soon half the country will be able to get superfast 100Mb broadband from us. Reaching today’s milestone puts us ahead of schedule as we help propel the UK up the global broadband rankings.

“Broadband is coming of age, as more people give up on slow DSL in favour of superfast fibre optic speeds. This, along with our fantastic TiVo TV service, means we have an incredible combination that lets our customers enjoy the digitally connected world to the full.”

In January, Virgin Media announced plans to boost its cable broadband services at no extra cost to the consumer. Starting this month, the provider will double the speeds of over four million of its subscribers and will increase its top broadband speed to 120Mb.

Virgin Media’s work to roll-out 100Mb broadband is now ahead of schedule, and will be complete this spring having originally been due to finish in the summer.

Photo by adrienneserra