Cable giant Virgin Media UK has announced that the rollout of its new "ultrafast" 100Mbps (10Mbps upload) broadband package, which was launched at the end of last year (here), is going well and can now reach 150,000 more homes in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire; Hatfield, Hertfordshire; Pentwyn, Cardiff, Wales; Southport, Merseyside; and Treforest, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.

These will join the original 200k homes in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan; Colchester, Essex; Farnborough, Hampshire; and Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire as the "first places in the country to be able to access next generation broadband". In reality other operators have been deploying 100Mbps capable FTTH networks since before Virgin Media began, although most such projects are admittedly quite small.


Virgin Media intends to continue the gradual extension of its new 100Mbps service throughout 2011, with the full roll-out being set to complete around mid-2012. The service costs just £35 inc. VAT per month (+£30 setup fee) when taken with a Virgin Phone Line for an additional £12.24. Other bundles are available too.

Virgin Media 100Mbps Package
* 100Mbps Downloads
* 10Mbps Uploads
* Unlimited downloading (free of any heavy Traffic Management limits)
* Free internet security (anti-virus/spam/spyware and firewall)
* Free super-fast wireless N router
* Unlimited weekend calls to UK landlines and Virgin mobiles if you take a Virgin phone line.
* Unlimited online storage with automatic backup
* Free photos (Print up to 100 photos for free every month)
* Free email (10 addresses)

Virgin Media is also continuing to trial a future 200Mbps service in customers' homes, although we won't see that until late 2012 or 2013 (depending on demand). They also have trials of 20Mbps upstream speeds and are busy testing the viability of using telegraph or electricity poles to deploy their broadband services into rural areas.

Meanwhile BT is gearing up to launch its 110Mbps Fibre-to-the-Premises ( FTTP / FTTH ) based fibre optic broadband solution later this year, yet it will take BT until summer 2012 just to reach a relatively small 2.5 Million UK homes. Most homes will instead be reached by its slower and more restrictive 40Mbps FTTC solution, rising to 66% coverage by 2015.