Virgin Media to complete 100Mb broadband rollout soon
Virgin Media cable broadband which has over 50% UK coverage (13 million homes) has just expanded its superfast, 100Mbps broadband reach to connect more than 10 million homes.
The UK’s fastest broadband provider who offers 50Mb broadband (which is faster than BT’s 40Mbps Infinity broadband) started upgrading its fibre optic networks in December 2010. The 100Mbps upgrade would cover another three million homes in a few months, the cable operator 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.” said Jon James, Executive Director of Broadband at Virgin Media.
Virgin Media cable broadband packages offer 10Mbps, 30Mbps and 50Mbps speed to its customers.
The ISP also ranked higher in the latest Ofcom broadband speed report. Its 10Mb broadband delivered higher, average internet speeds of around 8Mbps, while BT offered the same average download speed over its 20Mbps, ADSL 2+ broadband networks, according to Ofcom speed report November 2011.
The study also showed the ADSL 2+ broadband advertised as 20Mbps/24Mbps and offered by broadband service providers including BT, O2, Plusnet, Sky and TalkTalk could deliver just 5Mbps to half of their customers. By contrast, half of 10Mb Virign Media susbcribers could achieve speeds over 9Mbps, the findings have revealed.
Virgin Media 50Mb broadband offered impressive, average speed of around 47Mbps, the research showed.
“Virgin Media continues to deliver the UK’s fastest broadband, over and above what we advertise according to Ofcom,” said Jon James.
With 100Mb broadband rollouts scheduled to be completed in Spring 2011, the cable giant is also set to double the speeds meaning the 10Mb and 30Mb customers would see their access speeds increase to 20Mbps and 60Mbps after the upgrade.
“We’re about to boost the speeds of millions of homes yet again with our doubling upgrade and the introduction of 120Mb.” Jon James said.
Its popular Tivo TV service which is exclusively available for cable broadband consumers has boosted internet traffic over its networks, Virgin said. The data traffic which has doubled in the last two years, will soon reach one terabit/s, according to the ISP.
Meanwhile, The Country Land and Business Association (CLA), the independent organisation, has criticised Virgin’s plans to double the speeds for its cable customers, saying the ‘rollout ignores homes and businesses in the countryside to give areas that already have good broadband even faster connections.’
“Rural areas with inadequate broadband should be brought up to speed first before doubling the speeds for areas that do not need improving.” said Dr Charles Trotman, Head of Rural Development at CLA.
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