Virgin Media Boosts Britain’s Broadband Speeds

Free upgrades for 4Mb customers and a new 50Mb service

Virgin Media today announced plans to begin the first part of a major broadband upgrade programme. Customers on Virgin Media's ‘L' tier broadband package will be upgraded for free, taking their service from 4Mb to 10Mb. The upgrade will roll out by regions from late February and will give customers more than double the speed of their current package, a significant speed advantage over regular 8Mb ADSL connections. On the new 10Mb service, a Virgin Media customer will be able to download a typical music track in just four seconds; an album in under a minute or a TV show in around five minutes.

The speed upgrade was announced on the eve of a high level Government symposium on “Superfast Broadband” which Neil Berkett, acting CEO of Virgin Media, is speaking.

The upgrade will be completed by late summer and will reinforce Virgin Media's position as the leading residential provider of broadband services. Whilst the most common ADSL services in the UK have a maximum speed of just 8Mb, Virgin Media's 10Mb upgrade clearly highlights the benefits cable broadband has in being able to deliver faster and more reliable services to customers.

Neil Berkett, said: “Virgin Media's cable network gives us a natural superiority over other broadband services and we're delighted to reward our customers with this free upgrade. We've barely scratched the surface of what's possible with our cable network, and we will continue to look for new ways to satisfy the growing demand for even faster broadband in the UK. We're proud to be leading the country's superfast broadband revolution.”

Following successful trials in Ashford, Folkstone and Dover, Virgin Media will also be extending its upgrade programme to a superfast 50Mb. Virgin Media currently offers its customers a top speed of 20Mb, and the new 50Mb service will be made available to over 9 million homes in the UK by the end of 2008. Superfast broadband speeds will provide customers with a more enjoyable, richer online experience, and will allow families with more than one computer to do more at the same time including, browsing, playing games, making internet calls and downloading music.