Virgin Media completes 50Mbps broadband roll-out

Virgin Media's 50 Mbps next-generation broadband network is now complete.

During the last 18 months, the company has tripled its network capacity and, using DOCSIS 3.0 technology, connected more than 12 million homes with broadband speeds of up to 50Mbps.

"...We're ready to take 50Mbps to the next stage of development and reinforce our leading position in the broadband market," said Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media, in a statement.

To encourage people to use the faster service, Virgin is introducing a new price plan reducing the cost of 50Mbps broadband to 28 with a phone line or 38 as a stand alone service.

Subscribers will also be able to get Virgin's first ever branded laptop, the "Freedom" Netbook, when they sign up to a package deal.

Virgin Media is currently putting its efforts into even higher speeds. It started a trial of 200Mbps broadband in Kent earlier this year, piloting it with 100 users and claiming it was "the fastest implementation of DOCSIS 3.0 technology in the world."

Virgin also plans to trial faster upload speeds of up to 10Mbps, which would provide a boost to bandwidth intensive applications used by home workers and gamers.