Virgin 50Mb take-up is super-slow

When Virgin Media launched its 50Mb broadband service late last year, it was with no little fanfare. The press conference was held in a beautiful building just off Buckingham Palace, presumably at no little expense. Meanwhile, lavish ads starring Samuel L Jackson ran non-stop over Christmas with a view to convincing everyone that this was a broadband revolution.

Here he is, looking as poised as ever.



Surely if Virgin's 50Mb is good enough for the World's Coolest Actor, then it's plenty good enough for you too? Alas, it seems that for all that marketing spend the public aren’t entirely convinced. This was backed up by a source at a broadband comparison site who demurred that take up for the 50Mb service has been “disappointing” so far.

Granted this lack of demand could perhaps be due in part to the fact that just 1.5 million people can get the service at the moment, but the muted response from the public does not augur well. Moreover, with conditions worsening in the economy day by day, it’s hard to see any improvement in the near future.

The sticking point it's fairly obvious is the price tag. Asking punters to shell out £53 in the current climate was always going to be a tough sell and is getting tougher week by week.

At the launch, the broadband provider’s chief executive officer joked that the host building’s location meant that the Queen was probably a Virgin Media customer. Perhaps that’s because right now she’s the only one who can afford it.