Virgin Media Broadband

About Virgin Media Broadband

Virgin Media is a company that specializes in telecommunications in the United Kingdom. It provides cable TV, Internet, wireless and fixed-line voice services throughout the country. As one of the largest telecom companies in the U.K., Virgin Phone has the second-largest landline subscriber volume in the country next to BT. Its wireless division, Virgin Mobile, has 4 million customers and Virgin Broadband services almost 3.6 million with broadband Internet. There are 3.4 million pay TV subscribers in the Virgin Media Television unit as well as a number of media outlets. The firm trades on the NASDAQ as a public company. Sales in 2007 were reported to be US $8.1 billion and the company employs over 15,000 individuals.

Formed in February of 2007, Virgin Media was established after a merger of four companies. In March 2006, the two leading cable companies in the U.K., ntl and Telewest, merged to form one company. The firm then purchased Virgin Mobile and merged with Virgin.net to form Virgin Media. The company has a strong advantage in the U.K. market due to its ability to cross-market its very diverse options for its customers. The company continues its process of acquisitions in an effort to expand its customer base all across the country.

Virgin Media's broadband Internet services are some of the most competitive in the business. In late 2008, the company launched its 50MB broadband service. The service gives Virgin Media's customers the ability to download movies in minutes and entire albums in merely seconds. The service comes complete with a N-wireless router. In just three minutes, the router can download an entire 1GB movie. Virgin Media offers its broadband service to 1.5 million homes in the country, nearly 40 percent of the networks entire customer base.

As one of the premier providers of cable television to the U.K, Virgin Media offers modern technologies to assist the viewer on a daily basis. One of the first to launch digital video recorders, many of the company's customers now utilize the device. The company is also a leader in on-demand viewing, increasing its viewership by 33 percent over the course of 2008. Nearly 50 percent of the Virgin Media's customer base now uses on-demand content, either provided through broadband digital technology or traditional cable lines. In all, the company had over 400 million views through the course of the year. Virgin Media is the only firm to launch the BBC iViewer in the country.

For 2009, Virgin Media has completed the integration and data migration of its relationship management software project. The project is designed to improve customer service and accelerate the implementation of new technologies and products. Virgin Media has consolidated its billing systems and allow for increased communication with its customer base, keeping them informed about upcoming products and roll outs. Nearly 5 million customers will be updated in the first half of the year. The main new product launch scheduled for 2009 is the 100MB/s broadband service. This will allow its customers to access even more information via their phones, Internet or cable. An entire film can be downloaded in just over a minute.