Virgin Media boosts broadband speed

Company has "barely scratched the surface of what's possible" with cable network

Virgin Media has announced plans to upgrade the connection speed of customers on its “L” package.

From February customers of the internet service provider (ISP) who are on this tariff will be upgraded free from 4Mbit/sec to 10Mbit/sec. The rollout will be region-by-region and should be completed nationwide by the end of summer, the cable giant has said.

With the new speeds, Virgin Media claims customers will be able to download a standard music track in four seconds, an album in under a minute or a TV show in around five minutes.

The company also said that it would be offering 50Mbit/sec connection speeds to nine million homes in the UK by the end of this year, following trials in Ashford, Folkstone and Dover.

Virgin said the ongoing upgrades were part of its move to make broadband its 'hero' service. Last summer the company upgraded customers on a 10Mbit/s package to 20Mbit/s.

Virgin Media's acting chief executive Neil Berkett said: "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."

However, other ISPs are already hot on Virgin’s heels with BT due to begin the next phase of its 21st Century Network project this year. This will see its old network upgraded to technology known as ADSL2+ that can increase people’s maximum speeds up to 24Mbit/sec.