ISPreview - VirginMedia Interview
VirginMedia Interview
By: Mark Jackson - Oct 23rd 2007 : Page 3 -of- 3
"Bundling is booming and over 45% of our customers now take three services from us."

7. Do you think the ability to offer a bundled package (broadband + line rental, TV and or mobile phone connection) is an important product for UK ISP’s to offer or can the standalone model successfully survive on its own?

The ability to offer the convenience and value of multiple services from one provider is certainly a huge advantage. Bundling is booming and over 45% of our customers now take three services from us.

As the UK's only 'quadplay' provider, we can offer more flexibility than our rivals and, crucially, we also have much more experience in delivering all of the services we provide. BT is not an established TV provider, for example, and Sky is new to broadband, so we are the bundle experts and have a strong track record in providing broadband, digital TV, home and mobile phone services.

Secondly, our fibre-rich network means we have the bandwidth to provide all these services to their full potential. For example, our digital TV product offers over 100 channels, access to premium content like Sky Sports, a huge TV on demand library, a superior PVR and stunning HDTV entertainment.

Many providers moving into IPTV and broadband for the first time also require customers to take a BT phone, effectively defeating the object of consolidating suppliers.

8. Does Virgin Media ever intend a return to expanding the coverage of its cable (non-ADSL) based network beyond existing areas?

We currently have no major plans to expand our cable network on a wide scale, but we do have exciting plans for offering more services beyond the current cable reach - over copper wire (ADSL). We are aiming to develop an IPTV (TV over internet) service next year, which will compliment the existing broadband, home and mobile phone services which are already widely available in non-cable areas. Until then, we offer a digital terrestrial TV service beyond our cable reach. Our network partner for these developments will be Cable & Wireless.

9. There’s been a lot of talk about the newer DOCSIS 3.0 cable specification, not least its potential for delivering services of speeds up to and beyond 100Mbps. Virgin Media has already spoken about its plans for 50Mbps packages, but what more can we expect in the future?

We currently use a standard called DOCSIS 1 over the short coax cable between our fibre network and the customer's home. This currently provides broadband speeds of up to 20Mbp/s, plus the additional bandwidth required for our advanced TV services.

We believe our flagship 'XL' broadband service is more than adequate for today's demands, but we have early versions of the latest standard, DOCSIS 3, in trial. Customers in Ashford in Kent have already used this technology to experience speeds of up to 100Mbp/s, so we are extremely well equipped for the future should we choose to implement the new standard.

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