Virgin Media Broadband to Reach 3,000 Businesses in Manchester

Cable operator Virgin Media Business has today confirmed that 3,000 businesses in over 300 buildings will benefit from the on-going expansion of their ultrafast broadband network in Manchester, which is currently being deployed to 150,000 extra premises (mostly homes) in the city.

The £75m Manchester network expansion was first confirmed in July 2015 (here), although at the time it wasn’t clear how many of the premises involved would be businesses. The project forms part of Virgin Media’s wider £3bn Project Lightning deployment, which aims to expand the reach of their cable network to 17 million premises by 2020 (60%+ UK coverage).

Once all of this work is complete then Virgin Media will have covered a total of 450,000 premises in Manchester, including a fair few in some nearby “postal towns“. The roll-out is also being supported by the Government’s UK Guarantees Scheme, which exists to help infrastructure projects raise debt finance (Guarantees for up to £40 billion in aggregate can be offered).

Peter Kelly, MD of Virgin Media Business, said:

“A central part of any technology hub is reliable, secure high-speed internet. This can make the difference between thriving and merely surviving for small and medium sized businesses so I’m thrilled we’re able to bring Manchester’s vibrant business community our latest package with the fastest broadband speeds.”

Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester Council, added:

“Virgin Media Business’ investment in Manchester is very welcome. Quick, reliable broadband is the backbone of our digital economy, transforming the way businesses operate and the services they can provide. This announcement represents a bespoke ultra-fast broadband package for small and medium enterprises and will help support some of Manchester’s most digitally minded and creative businesses.”

Apparently most of the 3,000 businesses that will benefit are based in the city’s Northern Quarter, which recently won an extra £4m from the Government to help build the area into a technology focused start-up hub.