Virgin Media cuts XXL broadband price

Published Tuesday, Sep 1 2009, 17:38 BST | By Andrew Laughlin

Virgin Media has today cut the price of its XXL 50Mbps broadband packages, as announced last month.

When taken with a phone line, the price of Virgin's 50Mbps broadband for new customers has now been reduced from £35 to £18 per month for the first three months and £28 thereafter.

As a standalone product, the XXL price for new subscribers has dropped from £50 to £33 per month for the first three months, increasing to £38 thereafter. Both packages include a free wireless router.

However, existing customers are not eligible for the three month special offer and so will have to pay £28 for XXL broadband when taken with a phone line and £38 for it as a standalone product.

The move follows the completion of an 18-month upgrade programme in which the firm tripled the capacity of its fibre network to offer speeds of up to 50Mbps to 12 million UK households.

Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media, said: "We are delighted with the performance and reliability of our 50Mbps service, and with the customer feedback.

"Now the rollout is days from being complete, we're ready to take 50Mbps to the next stage of development and reinforce our leading position in the broadband market."

Meanwhile, the company has also launched a new branded netbook titled the Freedom, which features 1GB of RAM and a 120GB hard drive. Available in either black or red, the laptop will be offered without charge to any new or existing Virgin Media customers who take one of the company's bundled deals.