20Mb/sec broadband a winner for Virgin

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 8 May 2008 at 10:54

Virgin Media added 4,900 new broadband customers during its first quarter, bolstered by customer uptake of its 20Mb/sec service.

The company claims customer uptake of its current top-tier broadband offering has increased by 80% in the last 12 months, as customers continue to seek out broadband speeds to support the next generation of net activities such as the BBC's iPlayer.

In total the company racked up 88,400 net additions to its broadband offering, most of which were existing cable customers switching adding a broadband service. According to the company's figures it now has 3.5 million cable broadband subscribers, which together with its other services helped push operating income to £324.2 million on revenue of £1 billion. Operating losses continued to decline, falling to £4.6 million from £15.3 million during the same period in 2007.

Virgin Media also maintains that it's on track with its plan to roll out its 50Mb/sec service to nine million customers by the end of 2008.

The progress is a far cry from BT's 21CN network which is theoretically capable of 24Mb/sec, though BT has admitted that many customers are unlikely to see those speeds, with likely speeds between 6Mb/sec and 9Mb/sec.

For the truth behind BT's 21CN network check out the next issue of PC Pro on sale from 15 May.