Virgin Media O2 expands National Databank to tackle data poverty over Christmas

Following a successful three-month trial, Virgin Media O2 is expanding its National Databank across the UK to tackle data poverty over Christmas.

A shocking 1.5 million homes in the UK are currently without internet access. This “digital divide” limits opportunities all year round, but it’s especially bleak around Christmas.

Lutz Schüler, Chief Executive Officer at Virgin Media O2, said:

“With many millions of people still facing digital exclusion, now...

12 November 2021 | Operators

Over 90% of Virgin Media O2’s network is now gigabit-ready

Virgin Media O2’s network is now over 90 percent gigabit-ready, putting the ISP on track to upgrade its entire footprint by year-end.

The provider’s latest switch-on connected a further 1.6 million homes in towns and cities including Lincoln, Bath, Lancaster, Fife, Huddersfield, Ipswich, Slough, and Salisbury.

14.3 million premises are now able to access the gigabit network’s average download speeds of 1,130Mbps.

Lutz Schüler, Chief Executive Officer at...

9 November 2021 | Broadband

Digital Connectivity Index: The UK needs to build momentum to “level up”

The first Digital Connectivity Index shows the UK needs to build momentum to climb the rankings and reap the substantial benefits.

Economic modelling experts Oxford Analytica and Virgin Media O2 partnered up to create the index which is based on “thousands” of OECD datapoints.

Of the 24 OECD countries, the UK is currently ranked joint eighth alongside Spain, Norway, and Lithuania:

CountryIndex...

2 November 2021 | Broadband

Virgin Media O2 launches its first joint product since £31B merger

Virgin Media O2 has launched Volt, the company’s first joint product since the £31 billion merger between the telecoms giants earlier this year.

Volt is a service that combines Virgin Media’s speedy broadband network with O2’s mobile connectivity into a single “supercharged” package for customers.

Benefits of taking up a broadband package and pay monthly mobile plan with Volt include:

A broadband speed boost to the next tier available (e.g. 100Mbps...

18 October 2021 | Broadband

Over half of Virgin Media O2’s network can now access gigabit speeds

Virgin Media O2 has today launched gigabit speeds for a further one-and-a-half million homes, meaning that over half of its network can now access connectivity to support even the most demanding applications.

As of today, Virgin Media O2 has upgraded its network in several locations across all four nations of the UK.

Lutz Schüler, Chief Executive Officer at Virgin Media O2, said:

“We are upgrading the UK to next-generation connectivity and today we’re...

10 August 2021 | Networks

Virgin Media will upgrade its entire UK network to full-fibre by 2028

Virgin Media has committed to upgrading its entire UK broadband network to full-fibre by 2028.

The operator’s network currently predominantly uses Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) technology but also some Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) via Radio Frequency over Glass (RFoG). The network is currently being upgraded to support the DOCSIS 3.1 standard which is due to complete by the end of this year and should handle a peak theoretical download speed of up to 10Gbps and uploads of around...

29 July 2021 | Networks

RootMetrics: EE maintains performance lead, but rivals are catching up

The latest Mobile Performance Review report from RootMetrics shows that EE remains the UK operator to beat, but rivals are catching up.

EE swept six RootScore awards for overall performance, reliability, speed, and data, call, and text performance. The operator delivered the fastest median download speeds – across all network technologies – in every city.

Marc Allera, CEO of BT’s Consumer Division, said:

“Delivering the best mobile experience for...

22 July 2021 | LTE

Virgin Media O2 gives small businesses a broadband speed boost

Virgin Media O2 is giving small businesses a broadband speed boost to help them recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a rough year for most businesses, Virgin Media and O2 received some rare good news in May when the Competition and Markets Authority cleared a £31 billion merger between the industry giants.

Virgin Media O2 is now helping small businesses that likely didn’t have such good fortunes over the past year by boosting the upload speeds of customers using its...

21 June 2021 | Broadband

CMA green lights £31B merger of telecoms giants Virgin and O2

The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has given the green light to a £31 billion merger of telecoms giants Virgin and O2.

Provisional approval of the deal was granted last month but today’s announcement clears the companies to form a combined entity that can better compete against BT/EE after their own £12.5 billion merger in 2016.

Virgin and O2 both sell wholesale services to a number of mobile operators in the UK. In the case of Virgin, their wholesale...

20 May 2021 | Legislation & Government

Virgin Media hits 2.2Gbps speeds in latest broadband innovation trial

Liberty Global-owned Virgin Media has successfully completed a broadband innovation trial in which it achieved multi-gigabit speeds.

In the trial, Virgin Media achieved speeds of 2,200Mbps in Manchester and Southampton—around 40 times faster than average local connections.

Jeanie York, Virgin Media’s Chief Technology and Information Officer, said:

“We invest more than £1 billion into our network every year to deliver leading connectivity today, but our...

20 April 2021 | Broadband