Virgin Media launches UK's fastest internet service

by Dan Leahul, Brand Republic 15-Dec-08, 09:20

LONDON - Virgin Media will officially roll out its 50MB broadband package today, offering the fastest internet speeds in the UK, with a campaign fronted by 'Strictly Come Dancing' favourite Rachel Stevens.

Full details are expected at an official launch today, but extensive trials have already been carried out across the UK, where residents paid £50 per month for the service.

'Strictly Come Dancing' contestant Rachel Stevens is publicising the launch through a News of the World photoshoot video and photo call today.

The fibre optic service will be twice as fast as the present UK internet speeds offered by BT. However, Virgin Media will only be able to supply 50MB internet to about 12m homes across the country until the fibre optic cable is installed around the rest of the UK.

The 50mb speed is made possible through data over cable service interface specifications (Doscis) technology, which sends internet data over TV cables.

For the time being, most households will have to rely on BT for super-fast internet services. Earlier this year, BT CEO Ian Livingston announced that his company will invest £1.5bn over the next four years to install the necessary cable across the country.

Comments

joe woollen - 15/12/2008

Wonder how long we have to wait until this bandwidth becomes the "norm". Expect when this is commonplace and cheap, we will see TV change into an interactive and on demand platform and expect TV's themselves to become hybrid PC / TV's. 10 years????

Mike Page - 15/12/2008

Ah, those will be halcyon days as and when they come. Until then, I'll have to make do with my wonderful 1.1MB maximum. I'm signed up to receive 8MB, but thanks to BT's copper and me living more than 30cm from the exchange, 1.1 is all I'll ever get. And before you shout at me, "get cable!", if it wasn't for all the extraneous fluff that comes with it that I don't want or need, I might well do.

mark pinkerton - 15/12/2008

On the face of it, fantastic! However, will Virgin actually be able to deliver this level of service? I have severe doubts given their current performance on the lower bandwidths... I guess we just have to look at Korea to see the impact of high bandwidth on their media consumption.