Virgin Media extends 100Mbps broadband to more locations
Towns and villages in Hertfordshire, Merseyside and Wales to get superfast fibre optic access...
More Brits will be in reach of 100Mbps broadband after Virgin Media announced plans to extend the area in which its superfast service is available.
Five towns and villages in parts of Hertfordshire, Merseyside and Wales have been added to the list of locations due to gain access to Virgin Media's superfast broadband service. Up to 150,000 additional homes in Cheshunt, Hatfield, Pentwyn, Southport and Treforest will have access to the service, which provides internet speeds nearly 20 times the national average.
The localities join the 200,000 homes that can already gain access to Virgin Media's fastest broadband service.
Fibre optics will deliver superfast broadband to 150,000 more homes under Virgin Media's expansion plans
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
The superfast broadband service offered by Virgin Media will give customers access to download speeds of 100Mbps and upload speeds of 10Mbps.
Current UK broadband speeds have been branded 'too slow' for next-generation online services with average download speeds of just 6.4Mbps - leaving the UK trailing many other countries in the broadband speed stakes.
Superfast broadband delivery has also been highlighted by the coalition government as a key factor in helping the economy recover. So far, however, Brits have been relatively slow to adopt the superfast broadband services available to them, according to regulator Ofcom.
Earlier this month, BT named 41 market towns that will get access to its 40Mbps superfast broadband service - part of the company's £2.5bn next-generation broadband rollout. BT's fibre rollout will take high-speed broadband coverage to 66 per cent of UK homes.
The lion's share of BT's rollout is based on fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) technology, supporting speeds of up to 40Mbps - possibly up to 60Mbps in future.
Just a quarter of BT's planned rollout will be full fibre to the home (FTTH) technology, supporting speeds of up to 100Mbps. Last year, BT announced plans to make 100Mbps "widely available" in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, with the help of EU funding.