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Virgin Media 100Mb broadband pricing “too high” says BT

Following Virgin Media’s official announcement of the launch of its new 100Mb broadband service, BT says the pricing is too high.

Virgin Media’s standalone 100Mb broadband service will cost £45 per month, or £35 per month in a bundle with a phoneline.  BT’s fibre broadband service, called “Infinity”, is currently being rolled out to a total of almost £17 million and businesses, and costs from £19.99 per month.  However the Infinity service offers up to 40Mbps broadband.

The difference in speed is due to BT rolling out new fibre using FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) technology, meaning that fibre-optic cable is used up to a street cabinet, with copper from there-on to the customer.  Virgin Media’s fibre footprint comes much closer to a user’s premises, with less copper wiring involved.

BT also says that Virgin Media’s network isn’t open to other companies in the same way that BT is. 

In a statement, BT said: “Take up is as important as availability however and so we would question why Virgin are charging such a premium. Their new service is more than twice the price of BT’s fibre product and so we are surprised by the high price when most family budgets are tight.”

Virgin Media’s 100Mb broadband service is to be rolled out from December 2010, whereas BT’s Infinity service is currently in rollout stage at exchanges in the UK.