News
U.K. cableco to roll out fibre to new locations by spring next year, based on voting by local communities.
Virgin Media this week named the next 30 U.K. locations to be added to its fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) rollout project.
The U.K. cable operator listed 30 towns and villages, primarily in England with a handful in Wales, that will be connected by FTTP by spring 2017.
It selected the locations via a public vote. Top of the list in terms of the number of votes were Windlesham in Surrey, Sutton Courtenay in Oxfordshire, and Balsall Common in the West Midlands. The full list can be found below.
Virgin Media asked local communities to vote for FTTP connectivity under its ‘Supercharging Local Communities’ scheme, which forms part of the Project Lightning network infill programme it unveiled in February last year. Through the £3 billion project, the Liberty Global-owned operator aims to fill coverage gaps in its existing HFC network, adding 4 million homes and businesses to its addressable footprint. It has committed to providing FTTP connectivity to at least a quarter of those 4 million.
In May Virgin Media named the first 10 locations under the local communities scheme, six in England and four in Scotland.
"We have been overwhelmed by the response from the local communities and as a result we have decided to speed up our network expansion plans, to connect the next 30 villages by spring 2017," said Virgin Media’s chief operating officer Paul Buttery, this week.
"But we won’t stop there," he added. "We urge more people to come forward and tell us where we should expand to next."
The cableco is still encouraging people to show interest in receiving fibre access by registering online. It did not specify how many communities will be added in the next phase.
The 30 communities, in order of number of votes cast:
Windlesham (Surrey)
Sutton Courtenay (Oxfordshire)
Balsall Common (West Midlands)
Old Basing (Hampshire)
Oakley (Hampshire)
Farnham Common (Buckinghamshire)
Wargrave (Berkshire)
Lickey, Catshill, Marlbrook & Barnt Green (Worcestershire)
Cullingworth (West Yorkshire)
Shrivenham (Oxfordshire)
Baddesley Ensor (Warwickshire)
Harden (West Yorkshire)
Broughton Astley (Leicestershire)
Grimethorpe (South Yorkshire)
Wigginton & Haxby (North Yorkshire)
Copmanthorpe (North Yorkshire)
Grassmoor (Derbyshire)
Pontyclun (Rhondda)
Darfield (South Yorkshire)
Talke & Talke Pits (Staffordshire)
Cudworth (South Yorkshire)
Duffield (Derbyshire)
Shafton (South Yorkshire)
Denham (Buckinghamshire)
Llanharry (Rhondda)
Marcham (Oxfordshire)
North Leigh (Oxfordshire)
Repton (Derbyshire)
North Cornelly (Bridgend)
Watchfield (Oxfordshire)
