Virgin Media confirms network wide 100Mbps broadband by 2011

[Steve]

things moving well in the UK lucky i'm in a cable area



Virgin Media has confirmed to Pocket-lint that it hopes to have its entire network able to offer 100Mbps broadband speeds at some point within 2011 - with an initial service available in key areas by the end of the year.

"We are hoping to have a number of key areas online by the end of 2010 with the whole network able to access the 100MB broadband speeds at some point in 2011", a spokesperson for Virgin Media told Pocket-lint.

The confirmation comes as the company announced on Tuesday that it was rolling out its new ultra-fast broadband service to those wanting to surf the Internet at "break-neck speeds".

"Following our 200MB fibre line testing in Kent we feel confident that we can deliver 100Mb across the network", our man in the company told us.

But Virgin Media isn't just sitting on its laurels, hinting to us that the network could go to 400MB download speeds in the future.

The 100Mb service will allow users to download a music album in as little as 5 seconds, an hour long TV show in 31 seconds and an HD movie in 7 minutes 25 seconds.

Currently Virgin Media has 4.1 million broadband customers, with most on cable broadband, and currently offers 10Mb, 20Mb and 50Mb services.

The news comes as Leeds telecoms company Aql announced that the city will be the first in the country to get super-fast broadband speeds of up to 100Mbps. Businesses in the Calls area, many of which are media and marketing agencies, will be the first to benefit from the high speed fibre project.