Virgin Media to Roll Out 100 Mbps Broadband in the UK

Broadband is rather widespread today in the developed world and most Internet users have access to at least decent speeds. But the definition of broadband is very loose and the fact that what is seen as fast now may become obsolete in a year or two only makes it harder. So, while a new 100 megabits per second service in South Korea would hardly raise any eyebrows, the same speed in the UK is a big deal. UK ISP Virgin Media has announced that it is rolling out a 100 Mbps service, which will eventually reach 12.6 million homes.

The roll-out will begin later this year and, by 2011, all of its cable-service subscribers, 3.8 million customers, will have access to the service. Virgin's offerings currently top out at 50 Mbps, while competitor BT already has a 100 Mbps service. “There is nothing we can’t do with our fibre optic cable network, and the forthcoming launch of our flagship 100Mb service will give our customers the ultimate broadband experience,” Neil Berkett, CEO of Virgin Media, said.

The usual PR numbers have been put forward. Virgin says that 100 Mbps will enable users to download an entire music album in five seconds, while an hour-long episode of a TV show would arrive in 30 seconds. An HD movie would take eight minutes to land on your hard drive. All from legal sources, presumably, though Virgin doesn't specify this.

Impressive indeed, of course, the fact that the service is advertised as 'up to 100 Mbps,' which means that an actual speed of 256 kbps would qualify, may have a negative effect on the numbers boasted. Still, the new offering is 24 times faster than the national average in the UK, which stands at 4.1 Mbps. Virgin is also testing an even faster 200 Mbps service, which should start rolling out in 2012.