Welcome:   Virgin's 100mbps by 2011

As Virgin announces 100mbps fibre optic broadband speeds with 200mbps speeds to follow, the Government turns on BT so people can actually start getting it:

Ofcom has demanded that BT offer other providers access to its fibre network, underground ducts and telegraph poles in an attempt to speed up the introduction of superfast broadband. Ofcom have said they will not influence BT regarding how much they charge for this access and BT have pointed out that they already offer this type of access, although the Ofcom report does give clarity on the legal issues. BT have have also said that they do not believe that them opening up their network will provide the increased fibre coverage which is expected. According to Ofcom "superfast" means anything above 24Mbps.

The Conservative party have claimed that the new broadband tax will lead to disconnections for those on the lowest incomes. They believe people will give up their internet access due to the increase in prices. They believe that the tax was misguided and dangerous. The government have said that the tax will lead to increases in public services and improvements in home entertainment and business.

The BBC have reported that Clear Mobitel is hoping to offer a 4G service to Guernsey. The Office of Utility regulation is currently looking at the idea. Andrew Elston from Clear has pointed out that there is room for more competition on the island and that the current lack of competition is down to the the fact they are dependant on fixed wire access. He points out that their network does not rely on fixed wire networks and if allowed it will start to offer the service from January next year.

The European head of strategy and planning for Facebook has said to Business Week that the social networking site is now targeting those with low rates of landline web use including Africa and the Middle East. 100m people already use Facebook on their mobiles, but they are hoping to increase this. Tim Gibbon from Social Media Portal has said that this is not surprising and that many social networking sites are turning their attention those who use the internet while on the go. He says that using the internet on the mobile is more practical and cost effective in the regions which are being targeted and that proportionality they use the internet in this way more often than the average.

Virgin Media have claimed that they will be able to offer their customers 200Mbps in the next few years. Head of media relations Asam Ahmad, made the claim at the Ideal Home Show in London. He showcased a 185Mbps connection by showing how the connection could download and stream BBC iPlayer at he same time. He wasn't keen on revealing exactly how far away these speeds might be and suggested it could be in a few years. Virgin Media have said however that they will launch 100Mbps by the end of this year.

Research by Virgin Media Business has discovered the companies in Wales are more likely to use the internet to access new markets that ever before. In fact, in the poll of 5000 companies, 58% said that they felt that broadband, email and Twitter helped them stay more competitive both in the UK and internationally. The national average was 52%. It also found that just 17% of trading by Welsh companies was local and most utilised the full UK market, while 67% of the revenue of Scottish companies is found locally. Companies who dealt with overseas partners still do most of their trade with European companies at 33% , while the US (31%) and China at 28% were very close.

Broadband Genie has found that data limits for those with dongles is actually going down rather than improving in recent months. Back in 2007 it was quite common to have unlimited downloads, while now most providers will only allow 15Gb per month at the most, many are in the range of 3-10Gb. It has been suggested that providers cannot keep up with the demand for data due to the increase in Smartphone use, in particular the use of apps, streaming, gaming and email attachments. Plus many websites are now larger and more complex, taking up more downloading space. It is interesting to note that O2, being the provider for the iPhone, have the lowest limit for their dongle. † [last update: 25.03.10]

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