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Next gen UK broadband battle hots up

by Scott Bicheno on 24 March 2009, 15:55

Tags: Virgin (NASDAQ:VMED), British Telecom (LON:BT.A)

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Good for (some) consumers

BT aroused a fair bit of attention yesterday when it announced 29 locations that would receive its ‘super-fast' fibre-optic broadband next year.

However, Virgin Media is already offering similar speeds to those promised by BT in a number of areas and so looks to have a significant head start over BT. It's also predicting speeds of up to 150 Mb/s in the not too distant future.

Virgin Media isn't officially commenting on the BT announcement, but its press office provided us with this list of locations already able to receive 50 Mb/s:

  • Essex
  • Hertfordshire
  • Bedfordshire
  • London
  • Greater Manchester
  • Belfast
  • Edinburgh
  • Glasgow
  • Cardiff
  • Rhondda Cynon Taf
  • Yorkshire

It also pointed us to this map illustrating the extent of Virgin Media cable coverage in the UK.

One problem for Virgin Media is that it doesn't have anything to offer those areas it still doesn't cover, whereas everyone can get something from BT. However, it is insisting that over 12 million homes will have access to its 50 Mb/s service by the end of the Summer. Either way, this looks like good news for the consumer.

We'd like to know what you think. Is BT doing enough or will you be subscribing to Virgin's service when it becomes available? Let us know in the HEXUS.community discussion forums.

 

UPDATE - 16:30 24 March 2009

In response to our concluding paragraph Virgin Media contacted us to point out that it also has an ADSL service and a mobile broadband product, both of which are available nationwide.



HEXUS Forums :: 16 Comments

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Hahaha

That Virgin map is crap, Im well with in the Red area in one of there zones and they dont have cable anywhere with-in town. The town isnt small either at 30000 people living in and around it.

About time we had a universal network run by a third party that simply does nothing but run the infrastructure and make money and invest in its growth.
BT and Virgin are simply self serving rather than serving the UK population as a whole.
As a poor sod stuck in the sticks on 512 kpbs I most heartily concur on the third party/self-serving arses points.
Back in 1995 the then local cable company (Diamond Cable anyone??) promised us cable internet that would out perform dial up by some margin when they launch it - really soon. 14 years and 3 take-overs later and Virgin Media finally has something in place. That's how fast we're moving here.
Well I think we have all heard of the phrase “North South Divide” but I think that map is not something that Virgin should be proud to show off …:surprised:
If that map is anything to go by, can someone please alert Virgin to the fact that a county actually extends beyond the towns within it?