Cameron hints at imminent 100Mbps broadband rollout

Virgin Media could be launching its 100Mbps high-speed fibre-optic broadband service by the end of the week according to comments made by David Cameron.

The prime minister made the announcement during a speech to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

"We'll work with utility companies to get more investment in our energy, with construction companies on our roads, with the telecommunications industry on broadband. This collaboration is already working. Virgin Media is rolling out a new super-fast broadband service this week," Cameron said.

Virgin Media was unable to confirm to ZDNet UK that the service would be launching before the end of the week, saying only that "we will soon be revealing the details".

At the announcement of the 100Mbps scheme in February the company said that the service would be available to customers before the end of the year.

It is unknown exactly which areas will be the first to receive the new high-speed connection but Virgin Media chief Neil Berkett said that availability "will be a range up and down the country", in a statement at the time.

Virgin Media also said at the time that the actual speed obtained will be "very close to advertised headline speeds" due to it using cable rather than ADSL technology.

A State of the Internet survey published by Akamai in October found that the average connection speed in the UK is just 3.9Mbps, while the average advertised connection speed is 11.5Mbps. The study also found that only 17 percent of UK broadband connections got 5Mbps or more.

The disparity between actual and advertised speeds led to Ofcom setting new guidelines in July calling for greater accuracy when advertising broadband packages.