VIRGIN Media has completed the first stage of its ultra-fast broadband network for Southampton.

The project is one of the first in the country and will place Southampton among the top cities in the UK for broadband service.

Sholing, Peartree and Woolston have become the first places in the city to benefit from the full suite of Virgin Media’s services including next generation digital TV and ultrafast 100Mb broadband.

Virgin Media’s services will continue to roll out across Southampton with around 80,000 homes able to take advantage of the advanced digital services by December.

Southampton will be the first city in the UK where the whole Virgin Media network in the area will be able to access Virgin Media’s ultrafast 100Mb broadband service at launch.

Providing speeds which are more than 16 times faster than the national average, Virgin claims the fast 100Mb service will allow Southampton residents to download an entire music album in as little as five seconds; a TV show in around 30 seconds or a high quality movie in as little as one and half minutes.

Virgin Media will also be bringing its new TiVo service to Southampton which brings together hundreds of TV channels with catch-up TV, thousands of hours of TV on-demand content, online services such as YouTube and BBC iPlayer as well as the ability to record up to 500 hours on its three tuners.

Peter Taddeo, Virgin Media’s executive director of sales, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Southampton residents to the Virgin Media family. This is the start of an extensive roll-out of our services across Southampton, meaning that around 80,000 Southampton homes will be able to experience our next generation services for the first time. With the very best digital technology including our innovative TiVo powered service and ultrafast 100Mb broadband, Southampton residents will truly be at the forefront of the digital revolution.”

Cllr Royston Smith, leader of Southampton City Council, said: “It is vital for our residents and for businesses that we tap into the latest technological advances and we will continue as a council to do all we can to encourage that. Once again Southampton is setting the standard nationally.”