Virgin Media says BT still lagging on fibre broadband speeds

Virgin Media has insisted BT is still lagging behind the cable company on fibre optic broadband speeds, despite its latest boost to upstream and downstream rates.

As of last Thursday (April 12th 2012), customers who sign up for BT Infinity 2 will receive download capabilities of up to 76Mbps, roughly double the previous figure.

Upstream speeds of up to 19Mbps will be available with this package, while Infinity 2 has seen its maximum upload capabilities increase to 9.5Mbps - around five times the previous rate.

Responding to the announcement, a spokesman from Virgin Media told the Register it is good news that BT is attempting to "keep up" on broadband speeds.

However, he added: "We've now completed our rollout of 100Mbps to 13 million homes and now we're boosting our customers' speeds up to 120Mbps - that's some 50 per cent faster than BT's top speed."

BT is currently bidding for government funding that could allow it to extend fibre broadband to 90 per cent of homes and businesses.