Virgin Media, the UK’s predominantly cable-based broadband network operator, said that its 100Mbps fibre optic service is now available to four million homes in the country.

The company has connected 100 towns in the UK, and plans to make the service available to its entire network, with a reach of 13 million people, by mid-2012. Virgin Media charges £35 a month for the service when taken with a Virgin phone line, and £45 a month as a stand-alone product.

Virgin Media’s 100Mb service is based on Fibre-to-the-cabinet and offers a 10Mbps upload. It rivals BT’s Infinity service, though this is limited to 40Mbps with upload speeds of 10Mbps. Virgin Media said that all 100Mb subscribers are given a wireless router capable of handling up to 400Mbps wired services, and that it was currently trialling a 200Mbps service.

Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media said in a statement “As data consumption rises and consumers grow increasingly reliant on their broadband service, only Virgin Media’s unique network is primed to cater for the UK’s impending data explosion. With four million homes now able to ‘get in the fast lane’ with our 100Mb service, the UK is racing up the broadband league tables and we’re delighted to be playing the leading role in boosting the UK’s digital infrastructure.”

According to Informa WBIS statistics, Virgin Media is the second largest ISP in the UK with over 4.3 million customers, behind BT with 5.8 million and just ahead of TalkTalk, that has just under 4.2 million.