bassethound
16-03-11, 17:00
Virgin Media has announced that its 100Mbps broadband service is now available in one million homes around the UK.
The 100Mbps service is the fastest commercial available speed in Britain, at 16 times quicker than the average national broadband speed as indicated in Ofcom's latest research.
After an initial service launch in December 2010, around 1m homes in cabled areas can now access 100Mbps broadband. Virgin Media said that it is on-track to rollout the service across its entire network by mid-2012.
Households receiving the superfast speed are able to download an entire music album in around five seconds, or a TV show in 30 seconds. A full high definition movie takes just seven minutes.
Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media, said: "Reaching the one million home milestone is a hugely important step in ensuring consumers are able to keep up with the latest developments in this digitally-connected world.
"We had more than 10,000 registrations on the first day we unveiled 100Mbps so there is real desire for better broadband and all the wonderful things you can do with a fast connection.
"When we finish the rollout of 100Mbps across our network, half the country will have access to ultrafast broadband. That'll be six years ahead of EU targets."
Virgin Media believes that speeds at the level of 100Mbps are required to cope with the growing breadth of connected devices being used in the home, including smart TVs, games consoles and tablet computers.
The cable operator said that it now carries more than half a terabit of data per second during peak times, which is enough to download 62 copies of the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in a second.
The 100Mbps service is the fastest commercial available speed in Britain, at 16 times quicker than the average national broadband speed as indicated in Ofcom's latest research.
After an initial service launch in December 2010, around 1m homes in cabled areas can now access 100Mbps broadband. Virgin Media said that it is on-track to rollout the service across its entire network by mid-2012.
Households receiving the superfast speed are able to download an entire music album in around five seconds, or a TV show in 30 seconds. A full high definition movie takes just seven minutes.
Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media, said: "Reaching the one million home milestone is a hugely important step in ensuring consumers are able to keep up with the latest developments in this digitally-connected world.
"We had more than 10,000 registrations on the first day we unveiled 100Mbps so there is real desire for better broadband and all the wonderful things you can do with a fast connection.
"When we finish the rollout of 100Mbps across our network, half the country will have access to ultrafast broadband. That'll be six years ahead of EU targets."
Virgin Media believes that speeds at the level of 100Mbps are required to cope with the growing breadth of connected devices being used in the home, including smart TVs, games consoles and tablet computers.
The cable operator said that it now carries more than half a terabit of data per second during peak times, which is enough to download 62 copies of the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in a second.