Virgin Media to double broadband speed

Virgin Media begins upgrading its network in February 2012 with the aim of doubling the broadband speed for over four million of its customers and increasing the top available speed from 100Mbps to 120Mpbs.

Prime Minister David Cameron is pleased with the plans, saying that it would provide the UK with a "great boost" and that rolling out superfast broadband across the country is a “critical” part of his plans to upgrade the UK's infrastructure.

Speaking on behalf of Virgin Media, Chief Executive Neil Berkett said: "As people are increasingly doing more online, getting connected to the internet with lots of different devices, having a fast, reliable broadband service should not be a luxury."

BT has announced an investment of £2.5bn to make fibre broadband an available option for over a third of the country by 2015 and has stoked the competition fires by saying that "it’s no surprise to see Virgin following our lead by doubling speeds."

The Virgin upgrade will see a significant increase in speeds for customers who are signed up to the service and Virgin also stated that bandwidth usage limits will be increased to facilitate the increase in broadband speed.

With many other countries seeming to leap ahead of the UK in terms of broadband delivery and infrastructure this will take the UK a great deal closer to the EU target of a basic speed of 30Mbps, which is to be reached by 2012. Virgin Media users will be able to enjoy this speed and much faster many years before the targeted date.

Virgin’s improvements, which are receiving £110 million of investment, are expected to be completed by 2013.