Virgin Media broadband is the first broadband provider in the UK to offer what is called "ultra-fast" broadband, with the launch of its revolutionary up to 50Mbps superfast broadband service.

The ultra speedy broadband service uses the existing Virgin Media cable infrastructure (with some modifications) and requires the installation of an upgraded broadband modem in the customer's home.

What does a 50Mbps ultra fast broadband service offer the household, versus the average UK speed of 6.2Mbps?

Seeing really is believing - having demoed the Virgin Media 50 Mbps ultra fast broadband service, Simplifydigital.com was more than impressed.

For instance, standard web surfing seemed a very different experience - with pages loading instantaneously - but the real difference jumped out when we tried more data intensive online activities such as music and movie downloading, and of course online gaming.

How does the UK compare with what's happening overseas?

The launch of the 50 Mbps service in the UK, follows the trend elsewhere in the world where fibre-optic broadband providers are starting to put clear blue water between themselves and their DSL broadband competitors (who rely on the copper wire phone network to provide their broadband services).

Kabel Deutschland, Germany's largest cable operator is a great example - it uses a sophisticated fibre-optic cable infrastructure and has successfully tested speeds of over 200 Mbps.

It aggressively markets ultra fast broadband packages, such as a 32 Mb/s service with phone for about £20 per month.

Also a Japanese cable company KDDI has a fibre-optic broadband and telephony package with upload and download speeds each of up to 1Gbps, (that's 1000 Mbps) and this is in a country where speeds of up to 100Mbps are the norm. What's more, the KDDI service (with a free phone line) costs only about £30 a month.

In conclusion, the Virgin Media service is a welcomed development for the UK broadband market, though it is unlikely to be the only broadband service provider offering ultra fast broadband in the UK for very long.