Earlier this year, Virgin Media announced plans to invest £3 billion in its fibre optic broadband network over the next few years, with the aim of extending its reach to a further four million homes by 2020. But such a huge investment ultimately needs to be paid for, and that means it"s time for more price rises.
As The Telegraph reports, Virgin Media will begin notifying customers from Monday of price increases to its broadband-only tariffs. The cost of a 50Mbps connection, currently £28.50 a month, will rise by 6.1% to £30.25 a month; while a 100Mbps line will increase by 5.2% from £33.50 to £35.25 a month.
Remarkably, this represents the fourth round of price increases for Virgin Media"s broadband-only customers in less than three years. The network raised its charges for these users in February 2013 (+£1.15/month), October 2013 (+£2.50/mth) and October 2014 (+£1.50/mth) - and with the upcoming price rises included, that means that its broadband-only customers will soon be paying £6.90 a month (or just under £83 a year) more than they were at the beginning of 2013.
The new prices will come into effect in November - but if you"re not happy with these latest increases, you can cancel your contract without penalty before October 31.
But while some of the money it raises from its price hikes will be used to expand its network, Virgin Media is also preparing to boost the speeds that it delivers to its customers, and its new SuperHub v3 modem-router - equipped for a future 600Mbps broadband service - was spotted earlier today.
Source: The Telegraph