Virgin Media Names Trial Cities for Full-Fibre Upgrade

Virgin Media’s upgrade of its entire broadband network to full fibre will begin with 50,000 premises in Stoke-on-Trent, Salisbury, and Wakefield.

Virgin Media recently completed an upgrade that boosts download speeds on its cable broadband network to 1.1Gbps for all 14.3 million addresses it reaches. The upgrade easily makes Virgin Media the largest provider of gigabit broadband in the UK, with 50% coverage. 

But the telecoms giant isn’t resting on its laurels. In July, the newly-merged Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) announced plans to upgrade its entire network to full-fibre (FTTP), which delivers symmetrical download and upload speeds and could eventually accelerate those speeds to 10Gbps. 

That rollout, which will harness Virgin’s existing network of ducts, will cost around £100 per premise and is expected to be completed by 2028.

Broadband provider Sky is reportedly in talks to take a stake in the £1.4 billion rollout, a deal that would allow it to resell connections.

Trials of the technology are already underway at 50,000 locations in three cities, which Virgin Media is naming for the first time. 

The three cities—Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, Salisbury in Wiltshire, and Wakefield in West Yorkshire—have already seen installations. More information will be provided when Virgin Media releases its next financial results in early 2022.

Meanwhile, Virgin Media has already laid full fibre to 1.2 million premises through Project Lightning. Completion of the new upgrade will take its full-fibre footprint to 15.5 million premises. This will allow it to vie with Openreach (BT), which is aiming for 25 million premises by the end of 2026 and independent infrastructure provider CityFibre, which is targeting 8 million premises by 2025.

Lauren Smith

Lauren Smith has worked as a journalist and copywriter for most of the last decade, covering technology, energy, and consumer rights, in the US and UK.

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