Virgin Media sees mobile broadband as complementary

LONDON (Reuters) - British cable operator Virgin Media said it did not believe mobile broadband had mass appeal in the short term, but it entered the market to offer the service in its high-end mobile, broadband and TV bundles.

"Mobile broadband in the short to medium future will be a complementary product in the UK," Chief Executive Neil Berkett said at the Morgan Stanley annual Technology, Media and Telecoms conference in Barcelona.

He said Virgin Media, which is listed in New York but operates in Britain, had entered the mobile broadband market last month -- with an offering from 15 pounds ($22.25) a month -- and would bundle the service in the same way as it bundles Virgin mobile.

"At the top end of products, a dongle (mobile broadband modem) will be very cheap indeed," he said.

Berkett reiterated his support for media regulator Ofcom's view that dominant pay-TV operator BSkyB should provide wholesale access to its premium movies, sport and high-definition content.

"I have a high degree of confidence there will be a remedy in the marketplace, but not in the next quarter or so," he said.

Berkett said that with only about 6 million households prepared to pay the current price for premium content, it was "highly unlikely" that Virgin would bid for Premier League football rights.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle, editing by Will Waterman)