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The upgrade, which will be completed network-wide by June this year assuming no capacity or infrastructure problems are encountered, will catapult the company's broadband offering ahead of the various ADSL-based rival services on offer. At best, users can expect service up to 16Mbit over standard ADSL connections at present.

The company has already undertaken successful user beta trials of the 20Mbit service.

'As an end-to-end network owner, cable has inbuilt advantages in the quality of broadband service that we offer,' the company said in its financial results statement. 'Customers can receive consistent speeds and a top speed of 10Mbit is available throughout our broadband addressable areas. We will be increasing this to 20Mbit in June and we are also currently conducting a residential trial of a 50Mbit broadband service.'

Alongside the broadband announcement, Virgin Media confirmed that it made a £122 million loss for its fourth quarter, and lost 37,000 customers. The company also faces the loss of a number of popular TV channels provided by BSkyB following the collapse of talks to renew a carriage deal between the two companies.