Virgin Media to up FTTP investment

Liberty Global-owned UK cable operator Virgin Media has committed to provide fibre-to-the-premises to at least a quarter of the four million new homes and businesses being added to its network as part of its Project Lightning investment.

Virgin Media has said it will connect a total of 17 million premises to its network by 2019. The operator said the move would make it the largest wholly fibre broadband network in the country.

The operator has already begun rolling out FTTP in Cambridgeshire and Leicestershire, with work expected to begin soon in West Yorkshire, Devon and East Sussex. Virgin Media issuing new techniques including ‘narrow trenching to deploy fibre at lower cost and with greater speed than has hitherto been the case.

“While some companies talk a good game, Virgin Media is putting its money where its mouth is and laying fibre to the premise alongside our superior HFC network – delivering the  fastest widely available broadband speeds,” said CEO Tom Mockridge.

“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.”