Over the next few months it is certain that we will see a number of high-speed broadband services brought to the UK, Virgin Broadband already confirming the introduction of 100 Mb per second speeds by the end of 2010. However, not every user in the UK will require these superfast broadband connections and we will see a polarisation of broadband users between those who want speed and those who want cheap broadband.
While over time we will see high-speed broadband costs fall, in the short to medium term it could be fairly expensive compared to the slower broadband services available at the moment. Even though the likes of Virgin Broadband would like to see mass migration from slow broadband speeds to the company’s 100 Mb per second speeds this is unlikely to happen in the short term. While reliability is not an issue at the moment, simply because nobody has had the chance to use the service, it may take some time for momentum to build and for Virgin Broadband to grab a significant share of the high-speed broadband market.
Of course there will be promotions, discounts and add-on value to catch the attention of UK broadband users in the short term but Virgin Broadband’s high-speed network could take a little while to be accepted by the mass market.