New Virgin Media broadband twice as fast as anyone else

• Boost makes UK’s fastest widely available broadband even faster

• 152Mb top speed available from February 2014
• Extra speed for customers as peak net use grows 55% in a year

Virgin Media is launching internet speeds next year which will be twice as fast as any other widely available service. The UK’s leading broadband company is set to introduce an ultrafast 152Mb speed that’s far beyond BT, as well as significantly boost speeds for existing customers.

The country’s fastest widely available broadband is going to get even faster with Virgin Media delivering speeds at least double what all the providers dependent on BT’s network can claim. Such speeds will be available to the 12.5 million homes across the country served by Virgin Media’s superior fibre optic cable network.

After already doubling the broadband of over four million homes, Virgin Media is embarking on another ambitious programme to also increase customers’ speeds by at least 20Mb depending on their current service – a boost that’s far greater than the national average connection.

Virgin Media’s chief executive officer, Tom Mockridge, said: “As people connect more things simultaneously to the internet more often, they need powerful broadband with the bandwidth to deliver a great experience for everyone in the home. That connection is what we deliver with our unrivalled network. We are boosting speeds again and ensuring our customers can get even more value from their Virgin Media subscription. Our top speed will be twice as fast as BT and all the others reliant on their old copper telephony infrastructure as we extend our lead as Britain’s ultrafast broadband provider.”

The new 152Mb top speed means you can download an HD movie in less than four minutes and an entire music album in a breathtaking four seconds but the ultrafast service will really come into its own when people get online at the same time and need of plenty of internet bandwidth.

The boost keeps Virgin Media broadband a step ahead of the growing needs of increasingly simultaneously connected UK households. Families are already streaming entertainment on computers, tablets, smartphones and connected TVs whilst growing businesses from home, sharing news and views over social media and taking on the world with online games consoles, meaning the demand for greater bandwidth continues to increase.

The volume of internet traffic enjoyed by Virgin Media customers at peak times has already grown 55% in the past year and around 1000% since the company launched in 2007. The amount downloaded by customers each month is now 50% greater than the national average and has increased by a third in just twelve months as they can do more online with Virgin Media than with the ‘unlimited’ offerings of other major broadband providers which all rely on the BT Openreach telephony network.

Virgin Media’s broadband boosts have been recognised by Ofcom as helping to double the number of UK households benefiting from superfast broadband since 2012. Another 838,000 more households have already signed up to get 30Mb or faster with Virgin Media in the first nine months of 2013.

This is the latest in a number of exciting recent developments from Virgin Media. The company introduced SmartCall, an innovative WiFi calling app that enables people with a smartphone to use the inclusive calls they get with their Virgin Media home phone, regardless of where they are in the world and no matter which mobile operator they use. Netflix is also soon to join Virgin Media TiVo®, the UK’s most advanced next generation TV service, adding to Virgin Media’s unbeatable collection of movies as well as the vast range of critically acclaimed TV box-sets. Unlike BT TV, YouView or other connected set-top boxes, Virgin Media TiVo doesn’t slow down a household’s broadband thanks to its own dedicated internet connection.

Ofcom broadband speeds report, August 2013:

“The average residential UK broadband speed reached 14.7Mbit/s in May 2013.”

“By May 2013, 19% of residential broadband connections were superfast, up from 14% in November 2012 and more than doubling from 8% over the course of the last year. The move to higher speeds is partly down to Virgin Media’s network upgrade to double the speeds of most of its cable broadband customers.”

https://media.ofcom.org.uk/2013/08/07/average-uk-broadband-speed-continues-to-rise/

Download times are estimates based on a 60MB music album and a 4GB HD movie. Performance can be affected by factors such as speed of the server the download is from, if the connection is wireless, time of day, general internet congestion, and other users sharing the same broadband connection.

Virgin Media offers four multi award-winning services across the UK and Ireland: broadband, TV, mobile phone and landline.

The company’s dedicated, ultrafast network delivers the fastest widely available broadband speeds to homes and businesses. And we’re expanding this through our £3bn Project Lightning programme, which will reach 17 million premises.

Our interactive TV service brings live programmes, thousands of hours of on-demand programming and the best apps and games in a set-top box, as well as on-the-go for tablets and smartphones.

We launched the world’s first virtual mobile network, offering fantastic value and services to customers. We are also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the UK and Ireland.

Through Virgin Media Business we support entrepreneurs, businesses and the public sector, delivering the fastest widely available broadband speeds and tailor-made services.

Virgin Media is part of Liberty Global, the world’s largest international cable company. Together Virgin Media and Liberty Global serve 27 million customers across 14 countries.