Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett described the service as “a step change in how we access the internet,” underlining that “this is not something happening tomorrow. This is happening today.”

The new 50mb service comes complete with an N-wireless router capable of downloading a 1GB movie in just 3 minutes.

As if 50MB wasn’t enough Berkett also revealed that a 100MB service is in the works thanks to their advanced fibre optic network.

“This is a revolution,” he explained, “and Virgin Media will lead it. It’s interesting that within weeks of us talking about 50Mb our competition announced that, in 3-4 years, they would be in a position to compete.

“We’ve taken the risk. We’ve spent our money. We look forward to the competition spending their money, but customers will drive this revolution. They’ll make sure that in a few year’s time 50Mb will not be enough.”

“This is the beginning of a complete upgrade for customers, to the effect that you’re either on Virgin Media or you’re in the slow lane,” he said.

Virgin’s new 50mb broadband service is currently available 1.5 million homes across the United Kingdom, reaching some 40% of Virgin’s network by the end of the month and all 12.5 million customers by mid-2009.