Virgin Media on Friday unveiled a new investment plan that will see the UK-based cable operator invest £3 billion to connect 4 million more homes and businesses to its broadband network in the next five years.
The Liberty Global-owned cable operator claimed “Project Lightning” is the single largest investment in broadband digital infrastructure in the country for more than a decade and would benefit the UK economy by £8 billion through the creation of 6,000 new jobs and investments.
The additional investment will see Virgin Media increase its footprint by almost a third, from around half of the country today to nearly 17 million premises by 2020.
The company is throwing down the gauntlet to BT, which in January said it plans to deploy G.fast technology in two trial locations this summer, with a target of providing 500 Mbps to most of the UK within a decade.
Virgin Media said households connecting to its network for the first time will benefit from broadband speeds of 152 Mbps, which it claimed is “at least twice as fast as the fastest speeds available from BT, TalkTalk and Sky.”
Tom Mockridge, Virgin Media CEO, said: “In virtually all of the areas we have identified for ex pansion, BT is the only option available right now. Its ageing copper telephony wires are not capable of the ultrafast connectivity that Virgin Media delivers. Soon we will offer unbeatable services to even more homes and businesses across the country.”
Liberty Global said it remains firmly committed to Virgin Media and the UK market, also noting that it is preparing trials of DOCSIS 3.1 technology across Europe later this year. This technology could increase speeds to up to 10 Gbps when it is fully deployed in the future, the company added.
Also on Friday, UK rural broadband specialist Gigaclear said it has raised £6.5 million to help drive the deployment of broadband networks with speeds of up to 1 Gbps.
The moves by both Gigaclear and Virgin Media will no doubt be welcomed by the UK government, which has set a target of 95% of premises receiving superfast broadband by 2017.
A recent report from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on rural broadband and digital-only services expressed concerns that rural communities in the UK are at risk of becoming the “have nots” in a superfast broadband world, and called for a target date for when the last 5% of premises will obtain access to superfast broadband coverage.
Speaking about the Virgin Media investment plan, Prime Minister David Cameron described it as “a vote of confidence in our long-term economic plan to support business and create jobs by building a superfast nation backed by world-class infrastructure.”
“Together with this government’s rollout of superfast broadband which has now reached more than 2 million UK homes and businesses, this additional private investment will create more opportunities for people and businesses, further boosting our digital economy and helping s ecure a brighter future for Britain,” Cameron added.
The moves by BT, Virgin Media and Gigaclear to accelerate their high-speed broadband rollout plans come as BT, Sky and TalkTalk also add mobile services to their triple-play offerings, creating a new market of “quad-play” providers.
