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Virgin Media has announced the roll out of its new 100Mb broadband service, nearly 20 times the UK average, with pre-registration beginning today.
The cable broadband provider said that the service would go on sale in December and "propel the UK up the global broadband league table."
The launch will mark the fastest widely available broadband connection in the UK until BT switches on its own fibre based superfast broadband network.
"The launch of our 100Mb service is a significant milestone in the UK’s broadband evolution and a vivid illustration of the power of our next generation network," said Virgin Media boss Neil Berkett. "In the space of just ten years, Virgin Media has led the greatest developments in digital Britain."
The coalition government Prime Minister David Cameron said: "We want to see super-fast broadband brought to people’s homes and businesses right across the country and this exciting news takes us a step closer towards reaching that goal."
The new service will offer 10Mb upload speeds which would enable customers to share content such as live high-definition video, the company said. Customers also receive a custom router with 802.11n wireless which had the capability to scale up to 400Mb as Virgin continues to boost the speed of the cable network.
"We are now in a world where people want the best connectivity with whatever screen they are using and those service providers that aren’t able to deliver this will simply be left behind," said Berkett.
Starting from £35 a month as part of a bundle, the 100Mb broadband package will cost £45 per month when bought as a single service. The roll out to all 13 million homes covered by Virgin is expected to be complete by mid 2012 while the initial December availability will be limited to "parts of London, the South East and Yorkshire."
