Virgin Media to focus on fast broadband

Virgin Media chiefs are hoping to win customers by improving broadband speeds instead of trying to compete with Sky in the premium television market.

Neil Berkett, who is acting chief executive at Virgin, said he wanted to exploit the higher speeds cable is capable of.

He argued the service can attract customers with better performance for online services such as video on demand.

Berkett said he is targeting those who do not need top sports and movies but want more than Freeview.

He said of Virgin's offering: "Despite our technical advantage we are still not really standing out from the crowd. I really do want to re-focus our energies onto the broadband platform.

"Think of Freeview as a nursery and you have millions of kindergarten kids who once they have got the taste for multi-channel TV may upgrade an element of the service."

The plan comes after many customers left Virgin when Sky withdrew its basic channels during a carriage dispute.

The provider is testing broadband speeds up to 50 megabits per second. It is twice the fastest speed possible over BT lines which most ADSL services are carried on.

Virgin is also looking at providing online services that would need high speeds such as high-definition video on demand and home surveillance applications.