Analogue axe 'could lead to 100Mbps net'

Turning off analogue signals will allow Virgin Media to provide 100Mbps downstream speeds over its cable network "if we chose", according to the firm's chief executive.

Neil Berkett said the combined effects of introducing the DOCSIS 3.0 transmission standard and the freeing up of capacity by switching off analogue cable TV transmissions would allow it to continue providing faster broadband than competitors.

The company today confirmed it was commencing a tentative region-by-region programme of ending analogue cable TV service.

"Relatively modest investment in customer equipment and [headend] ports for channel bonding is required to do this and is included in our current capital expenditure guidance," he told investors.

"Next year our 20Mbps and 50Mbps customers will move to the DOCSIS 3.0 platform. This will significantly improve the quality of service provided to all our customers, as the 2Mbps and 10Mbps customers will have more bandwidth specifically dedicated to them. This will help push real world delivery speeds as close as possible to the advertised headline speeds."

Berkett said: "We currently only use two 8Mhz channels to serve all our broadband customers. For DOCSIS 3.0 this will be tripled. Each additional channel will be freed up by switching off a single analogue channel.

"Clearly it will not be long before we are in a position to switch off analogue completely, and this will free up significant bandwidth for even higher broadband speeds. We could easily provide 100Mbps if we chose to do so. We have a huge broadband advantage over competing technologies for speed quality, reliability and cost."

The newly freed-up spectrum could also be used to provide more linear television channels or more on-demand programmes and films.

Berkett said broadband provided over BT's network would be unable to match Virgin's speeds despite a significant ongoing investment in its network. He also predicted that development of new super-high speed networks was some way off.