Virgin aims to offer superfast broadband by 2012

According to senior officials from the firm Virgin Media is planning to try and offer consumers superfast broadband by around 2012

According to a recent report the communications giant Virgin Media could be offering consumers superfast broadband of up to 200Mb per second within four years, by around 2012. This would be on average around forty times faster than speeds that users in the UK currently receive. The claim comes from the chief executive of Virgin Media, Neil Berkett.
Virgin also hopes that by offering these superfast speeds over its network it will be able to go a step further than its rival communications giant British Telecom, which has recently announced its intention to plough one and a half billion pounds into the provision of superfast broadband through fibre networks. It plans to be able to offer ten million homes speeds of between 40Mb and 60Mb per second by 2012.

Berkett stated that Virgin Media was already way ahead of its rival, stating: “BT are talking about 40Mb in 2012; we have got 50Mb now and by 2012 we would have the technical capability of delivering up to 200 Mb per second. We are leading next generation access in this country.”

Officials have stated that the availability of faster broadband speeds could help to aid a flagging residential broadband market, as at present many people are trying to get cheaper services because the speeds in the UK are still relatively slow compared to other developed countries. However, if Virgin Media succeeds with its plans the speeds that the UK could enjoy would be faster than those currently enjoyed by consumers in destinations such as Japan and Korea.