INTERVIEW-Virgin Media targets 200 MB broadband by 2012

By Kate Holton

LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) - British cable group Virgin Media (VMED.O) plans to offer broadband speeds of up to 200 megabits per second by 2012 to deliver online video downloading and interactive gaming, its chief technology officer said.

The average UK broadband download speed is currently around 4 MB per second according to media regulator Ofcom.

Howard Watson told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday that Virgin Media was currently investing in technologies that would free up capacity on its network to allow faster broadband speeds as demand builds.

The speeds would allow families to enjoy interactive gaming, the downloading of online video including high-definition TV, and teleconferencing in multiple rooms of a house at the same time.

"We are setting ourselves a vision of households using 200 MB per second by 2012," he said. "The current technology that we're investing in to roll out the 50 MB per second over the next 12 months has inherent within it that extra capability."

Broadband speeds have become increasingly important in Britain, due to the popularity of online video sites such as YouTube and the BBC's catch-up service the iPlayer.

But some have questioned whether there is enough demand for such services and an announcement by telecoms group BT (BT.L) that it was building a high speed network was met by some questions of whether it was "investing into the unknown".