Virgin Media has launched a new broadband service, which, at 50 megabits per second, is to be the fasted in the UK. The service is a whopping nine times faster than what average UK web surfers are receiving, and should make downloads lightening quick. Virgin Media plans to have the service accessible to over 12 million households by mid 2009.

They also boast that users of the service will be able to download an entire TV show in under a minute, and an entire album in only eleven seconds.

This news comes after an earlier decision among broadband providers to put in better safeguards, in order to ensure that users are receiving the broadband speed they have paid for.