Virgin Media Scales Back North Swindon Rollout Due to Rival Network

Reports claim that Virgin Media has scaled back its urban superfast broadband (EuroDOCSIS3 cable) roll-out plans for North Swindon (Wiltshire, England) because of the local authority’s £1.9m contract with UKB Networks, which is deploying a fixed wireless service in the area.

The deal has been repeatedly criticised by local politicians who wanted to see a fixed line “fibre broadband” service, although the council has long claimed that neither BT nor Virgin Media were seriously interested in bidding for the related Broadband Delivery UK contract (here) and that left UKB Network’s fixed wireless solution as the only option.

The aim of the contract is to benefit 20,000 or so poorly served premises in North Swindon, many of which will be in more rural parts. However some wireless infrastructure will cover North Swindon’s urban areas and one difficulty with such a setup is that it can be very challenging to avoid overlaps with existing “superfast” networks.

Crucially the contract for North Swindon was agreed at the very start of the year (here), which is around the exact same time that Virgin Media unveiled their new Project Lightning expansion plan to cover an additional 4 million UK premises (here). As such Virgin probably didn’t return to discuss a possible expansion in the area until after the UKB Networks deal was done.

The Swindon Advertiser claims that recent negotiations between the local authority and Virgin Media, which was looking to expand across some of the same area, had reached an “advanced” stage. However the operator was reluctant to expand into the same areas as UKB Networks and so scaled back its plans to look at a smaller area around Taw Hill.

The news has not gone down well with outspoken local MP Justin Tomlinson, who has often voiced his opposition to the deal.

Swindon North MP Justin Tomlinson:

“We have had productive talks with Virgin who have already started rolling out in some parts of the northern sector but at this stage they are unlikely to progress further as they are unhappy as the council wants to move forward with 4G.

Residents collectively know this scheme is doomed to fail and therefore are disappointed that Virgin has hesitated. Our focus is now on working with BT to deliver the much needed upgrade to the Haydon Exchange.”

At this point it’s worth remembering that, at the time of the original contract negotiations, neither BT nor Virgin Media were willing to bid. The local leadership also preferred a deal with one or both of the two fixed line providers, but you can’t force commercial businesses to meet the goals.

As it stands a legally-binding contract now exists with UKB Networks and there’s a very strong likelihood that the operator will be able to deliver a perfectly acceptable service, although there’s also a chance that it might not be perfect for everybody. Mind you it’s not as if BT or Virgin Media’s network works perfectly for every home either.