Virgin Media has updated its bandwidth throttling policy to target those broadband users who the provider feels most "hammer" its network.

According to the Register, the internet service provider aims to restrict broadband bandwidth during peak times for the top two per cent most active users instead of the top five per cent.

Virgin Media revealed that it intends to contact the heaviest downloaders, who are contributing towards slower broadband connection speeds for other users because of heavy BitTorrent and newsgroup usage.

As a result of the new stance it has also updated its fair use policy, the website reported.

"In isolated cases … where excessive network usage at busy times (09.00 to 21.00) is having a detrimental effect on other users, we may need to take appropriate action … to notify users of the impact they are having and require them to move some of their activity into the less busy period," it reads.

However, customers subscribing to the supplier's 50Mb fibre-optic broadband service will not have their bandwidth throttled if they use it heavily during the day.

This month, Virgin Media announced the completion of its high-speed network rollout, as well as a new pricing scheme for its 50Mb package starting at under £30.