Virgin Media’s Network Expansion in Glasgow Grows 50000 Premises

Cable ISP Virgin Media UK has announced that their £3bn Project Lightning network expansion has now reached an additional 50,000 homes and businesses across the Glasgow City Region in Scotland via their “gigabit-ready” broadband infrastructure (FTTP / HFC DOCSIS) and TV services.

At present the cable operator covers around 1 million premises in Scotland and the Glasgow network alone makes up about half of that with 500,000 premises. Overall the Project Lightning roll-out has now connected more than 120,000 extra premises across Scotland (1.3 million extra across the UK) to ultrafast broadband since 2016 and 50,000 of those have come from the Glasgow region (e.g. Shettleston, Carluke, Paisley, Barrhead and Stepps).

Back in 2016 the operator pledged to extend their network to reach a further 360,000 homes and businesses across Scotland (here), which means that it’s not yet at the half-way point. On the other hand Virgin’s original plan was to cover 4 million extra UK premises (17 million total) by the end of 2020 and they’ve recently hinted that the final figure could end up being between 3 and 4 million (here), which might also impact their work in Scotland.

Despite the above, today’s announcement appears to reiterate the operator’s original ambition by saying that it “could extend the total reach of its network to up to 17 million homes and businesses.” Some very mixed messaging.

Cllr Tony Buchanan, Holder of the Infrastructure Portfolio for Glasgow, said:

“It is fantastic that so many more residents and businesses across the Glasgow City Region are able to benefit from ultrafast broadband and the enormous social and economic benefits which it brings. This extended service will provide many opportunities across the region, and I am encouraged by Virgin Media’s plans to connect thousands more homes and businesses over the next few years.

The eight Glasgow City Region councils are committed to closer collaboration with our key utility providers to better understand the investment plans and constraints facing telecommunications, water, power, gas and transportation and consider how all parties involved can work together to maximise investment plans and deliver enhanced services to residents across the region.”

End.