Virgin Media 2010 Annual Report Download - page 17

Marketing, Sales and Customer Service
Our marketing, sales and customer service initiatives are structured around the differentiated needs of our
retail and wholesale customers. Our retail customer base comprises private and public sector organizations, while
our wholesale customers include primarily mobile and fixed-line service providers, systems integrators, or SIs,
and internet service providers, or ISPs.
Retail Customers
Private Sector
Our private sector retail services focus on the telecommunications needs of small businesses to large,
national corporations. Centralized telephone account managers serve small organizations (with 50 to
99 employees), while regionally-located account, service and project management teams, supported by pre-sales
technical consultants, provide service to medium and large U.K. businesses (with over 100 employees). We
believe that our local presence and the resulting level of service we provide is a key differentiator in this
mid-market segment, and that the benefits of this strategy are reflected in the long term relationships held with
many of our private sector customers.
Public Sector
Our public sector retail services are structured around industry-specific segments, such as local government,
education, health and emergency services. This enables us to provide sector-specific expertise where an
understanding of the drivers and procurement processes of publicly funded organizations are necessary for
efficient deployment of communications solutions. We believe that the inclusion of Virgin Media Business as an
approved supplier under various government framework agreements acts as both an enabler of growth of our
market share in this sector and an endorsement of our track-record, commitment and capability to offer value to
publicly funded organizations.
Wholesale Customers
Our wholesale services are structured around the network requirements of the different types of service
providers. Specialized account and service management teams support carriers, mobile operators, SIs and ISPs.
We provide predominantly data connectivity services, both in terms of local access and core networks, including
high bandwidth connections between a site and the core network.
Joint Venture
Virgin Media owns a 50% interest in the companies that comprise the UKTV Group, a series of joint
ventures with BBC Worldwide. UKTV operates ten television channels including G.O.L.D. Yesterday, Eden,
Alibi, Blighty, Good Food and Dave, as well as associated multiplexed channels.
Our Network
We deliver high-speed voice and data services over our HFC network using Data Over Cable Service
Interface Specification 3.0, or DOCSIS 3.0. Our deep fiber access network enables us to transmit data by means
of fiber optic cable from origination points known as “headends” and “hubs” to a group of distribution “nodes.”
The connection into each home from the fiber access network comprises two components combined into a single
drop cable. First, to provide television services and high-speed broadband internet access, we use high capacity,
two-way, coaxial cable which has considerable bandwidth and is able to support a full portfolio of linear and
on-demand TV services as well as high-speed broadband services. We currently offer download speeds of up to
50 Mb and, in some areas already, up to 100 Mb via coaxial cable and have trials underway with respect to
download speeds of up to 200 Mb. Second, we use short length twisted copper-pair to connect fixed line
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