Broadband provider Virgin Media has confirmed that it would discontinue offering its services in the Westminster area of London, starting January 2011.

Announcing the decision, the company said that the infrastructure that it rented from BT was not capable of supporting its super-fast broadband and next-generation TV & telephone services.

Speaking on the topic, a spokesperson for Virgin Media said, "This is an unusual circumstance, in that it's one of the rare areas where we don't own the network ourselves."

The move will affect around 3,000 people, who will have to switch over to other broadband and TV service providers.

Another area where Virgin Media has leased equipment from BT is Milton Keynes, but the company has no plans to withdraw services in that area.

Separately, Virgin Media announced that it already had fibred 73,000 premises, and the figure would hit 100,000 before the end of this year.

The fibred service will provide Virgin Media customers with upload speeds of up to 10Mbps and download speeds of up to 100Mbps.