NTL is to crank up the speed for all its broadband punters by setting access speeds at 10 meg as standard. The upgrade to its network is due to be completed by the end of 2006.

Customers currently signed up to its three meg service will be the first to the first to try out the new blistering speeds. As part of the upgrade, their usage limit will increase from 30 gig to 75 gig a month.

Details of other packages on offer including prices have yet to be published. But it seems that the cable company is to give all its punters 10 meg access and then charge them according to usage rather than speed.

NTL chief exec Simon Duffy said the move was "well ahead of anything else in the UK" and a "a major step towards delivering Britain's digital future".

"Moving 1.5 million customers to a connection of up to 10Mb is a major initiative. However, we have full confidence in our ability to complete this programme in 2006 by leveraging our next generation platform," said Duffy.

NTL - which is currently busy trying to tie up a merger with Telewest - is also currently trialling 20 meg broadband in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, and reckons its network could even support speeds of between 30 meg and 50 meg. ®

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