LONDON: U.K. cable television firm NTL is ready to offer 10Mbps as the standard speed for broadband customers. There will be no additional cost for the service. The company will upgrade its subscribers with 3Mbps service first, which will be completed by the year-end.

NTL is also aiming high. It is confident it can further improve the speeds to 30 Mbps or even 50 Mbps using its cable network or through ADSL2+ DSL broadband connections. Then, there are other services in the pipeline, like high-definition TV, 1000-channel global radio, domestic video conferencing, global gaming, low cost telephony and video e-mail.

The company’s chief executive Simon Duffy feels he will be able to move all its broadband subscribers to 10 Mbps by 2006. NTL’s network connects 97.9 million homes, while it has nearly three million residential customers. The number of broadband customers in the U.K. is 1.4 million.

NTL said its plan will enable a customer to match speed, usage allowance and price to their individual needs. A new user can straightaway log in to 10Mbps connection without any hassles.

“Our broadband services will become amongst the most innovative in the world and certainly well ahead of anything else in the UK,” said Duffy.

In the U.K., broadband constitutes 50.7 per cent of net connections. UK Online, the net service provider owned by Easynet, became the first to offer 8Mbps broadband at the end of 2004, while another provider, Bulldog, upgraded customers from 4Mbps to 8Mbps at no extra cost.