Virgin Media Bring Symmetric 100Mbps to 2,000 Birmingham Businesses

Cable operator Virgin Media Business (Liberty Global) has announced that 2,000 businesses in 250 buildings in the city of Birmingham (England) will soon be able to receive “equal upload download speeds of 100Mbps” thanks to their on-going network expansion.

The provider has already launched similar services in London’s Tech City and Manchester’s Northern Quarter, but this will now be extended to businesses that have setup in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, Colmore Business District, Hagley Road and Broad Street. In this instance Virgin’s primary focus is on catering for small businesses that exist in multi-tenanted buildings.

Mike Smith, Director of SME at VMB, said:

“Birmingham is fast becoming one of the UK’s leading digital tech clusters and as such needs reliable, secure, high speed internet access. Better connectivity can transform the way small businesses operate and the services they provide, allowing them to seize the chance to become digital leaders.”

It’s important to recognise that this service is a bit different from the asymmetric solutions that tend to be supplied over their hybrid-fibre coax cable network. Apparently an ultrafast fibre optic cable will be “installed directly into the premises” (1Gbps capacity) and after that each business can order a dedicated Internet connection running at either 50Mbps or 100Mbps (£199 or £249 monthly fee respectively).

More expensive Leased Line options will also be available.