Virgin Media to complete high-speed broadband network ahead of schedule

Virgin Media is expected to announce that it will connect the entire cable network to its super fast broadband service months ahead of schedule.

The UK cable operator’s 100Mbps broadband service currently passes 10 million homes but is expected to pass all 26 million homes covered by the network several months ahead of the mid-2012 deadline, according to the Guardian.

Virgin Media is competing with BT to offer the highest speeds to UK consumers. The telco’s Infinity service currently reaches speeds of up to 40Mbps but is expected to increase to 80Mbps later this year. BT is also trailing an FTTP service that could offer speeds of up to 300Mbps.

Virgin Media, meanwhile, has announced plans to double the speeds of the majority of its broadband packages, while the 100Mbps service will increase to 120 Mbps. It has also trialed 1.5Gbps broadband using its existing high-speed network.

The cable operator said the completion of its high-speed network would put the UK in the world‚s top 20 countries for high speed broadband. It is currently outside the top 30.