Broadband Speeds: It is Virgin Media’s Turn Now to Call the Shots
One need not think twice to answer the question, who is the UK ISP that offers the fastest broadband speeds at present. Even kids know today that though BT’s proposed, upto 100Mbps broadband roll out is well on its way, currently Virgin Media is the one who offers the broadband speeds of up to 50Mbps.
Now, Virgin Media has claimed that it could offer high broadband speeds of up to 150 Mbps, even while maintaining an average 100 Mbps speed. Moreover, it has also sounded a challenge that this would be achieved by them even before BT UK completing its own fibre network for effectuating superfast broadband.
It is also amusing peeping back to BT’s announcement, made yesterday that said it would offer internet access speeds of between 60Mbps and 40 Mbps through their fibre to cabinet technology. Besides, it had also announced the first twenty nine locations where the roll out would be undertaken initially.
It should also be taken into account in the circumstances that BT is already providing 100Mbps fast broadband connections, though only to a select list of areas such as Kent and Ebbsfleet. Presently, they only avail it to newly built areas where a cost reduction is effected over the installations for being synchronised alongwith building works.
Meanwhile, around half of the UK homes are covered by Virgin Media’s network. However, only a small part of it is able to access its superfast 50Mbps broadband package. This fact would not be of much bother to Virgin Media, for the GBP 1.5 billion optic fibre broadband plan of BT would also be covering only around 40 percent of businesses and homes. This is why many experts premonish an extended digital divide.
The broadband expert of BBS, Chuck Doherty opines that although Virgin Media would start rolling out higher speeds by next year and BT would be accomplishing something like by 2012, the real situation that needed to be averted is that half of the UK enjoying the broadband speeds of up to 100Mbps while many languishing in the slow course.
