Virgin slashes price of 152Mbits/sec broadband bundle

Virgin Media is cutting the price of some of its broadband deals, including its fastest Big Kahuna package. The new offer, first spotted by ISP Review, will see new customers offered the company’s fastest broadband and TV from £33 per month for the first year, excluding line rental.

The Big Kahuna bundle offers 152Mbits/sec broadband, more than 230 TV channels via the company’s TiVo box, and unlimited weekend calls on the Virgin landline. Previously, that package cost £39 per month for the first year, and £49 thereafter, but Virgin has dropped that price to £33 per month for the first 12 months, a saving of £72. That price excludes the line rental of £16.99 per month.

Virgin’s Big Connection package, which reduces the internet speed to 50Mbits/sec and removes the TV element, is also getting a price chop, according to ISP Review. It will come down from £12 per month for the first year to £8.75, costing £17.50 thereafter. Both packages have a minimum contract term of 18 months.

The price cuts – which will reportedly only be on offer until the middle of next month – are just the latest sign of Virgin Media’s aggressive attempts to grow its customer base. Last week the company announced it would be expanding its cable broadband network to cover an additional 4 million homes in the UK, at a cost of £3 billion. Those 4 million homes will largely be in inner-city areas that already have access to BT fibre, much to the consternation of rural campaigners who had hoped for an overall expansion of the UK’s fibre broadband footprint.

BT has been rapidly expanding its fibre network with the help of government funding, a process which Virgin Media declined to participate in. The government body responsible for part-funding the fibre rollout, BDUK, was heavily criticised by MPs for failing to get sufficient competition into the process, leaving BT to win every single contract to supply fibre broadband for county councils.

Written by

Barry Collins

Barry Collins has been a technology writer, editor and broadcaster for more than 25 years. He was assistant editor of The Sunday Times’ technology section, editor of PC Pro and has written for more than a dozen different publications and websites over the years. He’s made regular TV and radio appearances as a technology pundit, including on BBC Newsnight, ITV News and Sky News. Now a senior contributor at Forbes.com, he also presents and produces tech-related podcasts.  

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