Virgin Media aims for 200Mbps by 2012

Virgin Media is aiming to deliver 200Mbps broadband to homes by 2012.

"We are setting ourselves a vision of households using 200Mbps by 2012," said chief technology officer Howard Watson in an interview with the Reuters news agency.

"The current technology that we're investing in to roll out the 50Mbps over the next 12 months has inherent within it that extra capability."

The cable provider is installing DOCSIS 3.0 transmission technology across its network and freeing up capacity by switching off analogue cable television.

So far Virgin's commercial commitments have only stretched to rolling out downstream internet connections of 50Mbps through this year and next, but BT may have jolted the firm by proposing to market 100Mbps after a major investment in its fibre network.

"It is capacity that we have in the network that is reasonably easy to get at, and then (we need to) re-purpose that capacity for more broadband," said Watson.

Trials had shown that customers would make good use of 50Mbps, Watson said, but he cautioned that demand was not yet sufficient for Virgin to be compelled to allow other providers access to its network on a wholesale basis.

"We are trying to build a market here for high speed broadband; that market doesn't exist yet in the UK, and it's too early to be looking at over-regulation or wholesaling in that context," Watson added.