Broadband News

Virgin Media 50Mb broadband subscriptions jump 28%

Wednesday, 28 July 2010

By Garnet Roach garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk

Almost 75,000 customers are now signed up to Virgin Media's (www.Virginmedia.com) superfast 50Mb broadband package, the provider has revealed.

The company added 28,100 new customers to its cable network over the last quarter, bringing its total broadband customer base to an impressive 4.2 million.

Over 650,000 of its customers now take either its 20Mb or 50Mb broadband packages, said Virgin Media - an increase of 43% since last year.

The provider currently offers three broadband packages; 10Mb, 20Mb broadband as well as its 50Mb package. But it will launch an even faster 100Mb broadband package by the end of the year. “In addition, we continue to trial 200Mb downstream and 20Mb upstream speeds on our cable platform,” added the superfast broadband provider.

Research by telecoms regulator Ofcom yesterday named Virgin Media as the UK’s fastest broadband provider, offering average speeds of 8.7Mb on its 10Mb package and 15.7Mb on its up to 20Mb offering.

This compared to just 3.3Mb on 8Mb-10Mb ADSL copper wire packages and 6.5Mb on competitor’s 20Mb-24Mb deals.

Virgin Media said yesterday: “While Ofcom’s report is good news for our customers, it’s clear that our DSL competitors just aren’t keeping up with their promises of 20Mb broadband.

“No DSL customer receives 18Mb, only 2% are receiving more than 14Mb and, on average, DSL providers are delivering just 33% of their advertised ‘up to 20Mb’ speed.

“We need to ensure people are not being ripped off and the lack of transparency in broadband advertising risks damaging consumer confidence in superfast broadband.”

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