Virgin Media Adds 50,000 New Connections, Eases Traffic Management Scheme

Virgin Media wants to add 50,000 new premises to its network by the end of 2009 with further plans to add up to 500,000 connections within the next few years.

The cable network company covers 12.5 million households and businesses nationally and adding another half a million would increase its coverage by another 2 percent.

Neil Berkett, the company's CEO, told investors that Virgin Media would be careful when executing the plans to make sure that it gets an optimal return on investment which could mean that most rural areas would be ruled out.

In related news, Virgin Media has eased the traffic management policy for its L and XL broadband customers; from now on, they will be able to download 2.25GB and 4.5GB respectively between 10am and 9pm before Virgin Media cuts their download speeds to 25 percent.

XXL users who have access to the 50Mbps line do not have to undergo any traffic management. Virgin Media also revealed that only the top 5 percent of its customers who download significant amount of data will be concerned.

Virgin Media Broadband executive director Jon James said in a statement "Today's changes just go to highlight how the major investment in our new DOCSIS 3.0 network is enabling all Virgin Media customers to enjoy the best of today's Web, whether viewing full screen HD video on a PC or unlimited downloads".

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