Virgin Media UK Secures Local Full Fibre Contract for Belfast

UK ISP Virgin Media Business has won the Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) contract for Belfast in Northern Ireland, which will see more than 200 public sector sites being linked up by a new Gigabit-capable data network. The move should also complement Virgin Media’s 1Gbps DOCSIS 3.1 broadband rollout for homes.

Last year saw the UK Government allocate £11.5m of public funding to Belfast from their LFFN programme (here), which among other things included a proposed plan to invest the bulk of that into a new Anchor Tenancy procurement that would provide Dark Fibre upgrades for all the City Council’s networked sites (total contract value of £25m).

As the tender said, “The council is seeking to future proof its network connectivity requirements for the next 20 to 25 years through the installation of gigabit capable network services.” The good news is that, after a long wait, the Belfast City Council has finally awarded this contract to VMB.

As part of the deal, VMB will connect sites across the city providing the ability to support fast and reliable public WiFi, digitally transformed services and new digital infrastructure such as traffic management sensors and 5G smart districts and test-beds (i.e. supporting Belfast’s Future City programme).

Rob Orr, VMB Executive Director, said:

“This deal will bring next-generation connectivity to new areas of Belfast, helping bring together essential services and support the city’s ambitious growth plans.

By connecting more of the city to our gigabit-capable network, we’ll make ultrafast connections available to a greater number of citizens and businesses as part of our commitment to support long-term economic growth in the whole of Northern Ireland.”

Matt Warman, UK Minister for Digital and Broadband, said:

“Belfast has so much going for it and I’m delighted it will benefit from £8 million in UK Government funding to provide its public services with future-proof, full fibre broadband.

A city-wide fibre network will help attract further commercial investment and be a huge boost for businesses and residents.

We want to deliver world-class, gigabit-capable broadband to the whole of the UK and are investing over £650 million in full fibre broadband until the end of 2021.”

The announcement also says that today’s deal will created “new opportunities to bring Virgin Media’s ultrafast, gigabit-capable network to more businesses and residents,” which we assume is a reference to it being able to separately support their commercial upgrade to 1Gbps capable DOCSIS 3.1 broadband technology by the end of 2021 (here). Not to mention their on-going Project Lightning network extension.

Since the company launched its Project Lightning expansion programme in 2015, it has invested close to £100m in Northern Ireland and now offers “ultrafast broadband” services to more than 330,000 homes and businesses. Virgin Media has also connected more than 250 new housing developments since 2015.

This year Carrickfergus, Craigavon, New Buildings, Magheramason and Sion Mills have been connected to Virgin Media’s gigabit capable network, with Lurgan set to follow suit shortly when works are complete. Back in March the operator also announced that it was stepping up its investment in Northern Ireland and opening a new office, which will house the majority of the company’s 350 employees in the country.