Virgin Media pledges fibre broadband expansion to one million premises by 2019
Virgin Media has announced that it will be rolling out fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband for one million homes and businesses over the next few years.
The plans are part of Virgin Media’s £3bn expansion to grow its overall network by four million premises by 2019.
Rivals BT and Sky are currently trialling FTTP or deploying it in smaller regions across the UK.
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According to Virgin Media its fibre rollout has already begun in Cambridgeshire and Leicestershire and work will soon begin in West Yorkshire, Devon, and East Sussex.
Virgin Media chief executive Tom Mockridge said:
While some companies talk a good game, Virgin Media is putting its money where its mouth is and laying fibre to the premise. In just over one year we’ve laid enough new cable to stretch all the way from Land’s End to John O’Groats, reaching a quarter of a million more homes and businesses – and there’s much more to come.
Chancellor George Osborne said:
Backing firms that grow and create jobs is a key part of our plan to boost productivity and deliver economic security for working people.It's fantastic to be at Virgin Media … to hear about their plans to create 500 new highly skilled jobs this year, and expand their ultrafast Internet service to four million new homes and businesses.
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The UK currently ranks 30th out of the 34 OECD nations when it comes to fibre broadband coverage according to a recent Ofcom report.