Virgin Media To Distribute Broadband Internet Over Telegraph Poles

It's no secret that American broadband isn't as robust from a national perspective as it could be, particularly when compared to other nations. Virgin Media a major broadband player in the United Kingdom, and they have pushed for faster speeds in the home for years now. They were responsible for rolling out one of the first commercial 100Mbps cable modems to consumers, and now the cable operator is testing out a new technology that could deliver high-speed Internet over none other than telegraph poles. Yes, telegraph poles.

The idea here is to get broadband (Virgin Media's broadband, of course) to another one million or so homes that aren't currently being serviced. Just as the American government is actively looking for ways to spread broadband to more rural locations, this Virgin Media initiative is hoping to ship faster broadband speeds to underserved areas. Plans are already in plans to extend their fiber optic network by half a million new homes, with over one million British homes identified already as homes that could benefit from deployment over telegraph poles. Chief Executive Neil Berkett had this to say about the potentially crazy sounding idea:

"This unique trial will allow us to understand the possibilities of aerial deployment and may provide an exciting new way to extend next generation broadband services."

We're glad to see someone overseas taking initiative, and we can only hope that other nations follow suit soon. Broadband for all, we say! Fight the good fight!