Virgin Media Grows N.Ireland Full Fibre Cover by 13,300 Homes

Broadband ISP and Pay TV provider Virgin Media UK has today announced that a further 13,300 homes in parts of Northern Ireland, specifically Newry, Markethill, Camlough and Bessbrook, have just benefitted from the ongoing expansion of their gigabit speed capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network.

The latest work forms part of their ongoing Project Lightning build, which has so far extended their network to cover over 2.5 million extra UK premises. The operator’s original network was deployed using Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) technology, but this expansion harnessed FTTP via Radio Frequency Over Glass (RFoG) – both methods make use of the DOCSIS standard to harness the same consumer hardware.

At the same time Virgin Media are also rolling out their latest DOCSIS 3.1 network upgrade across the UK, which by the end of 2021 aims to have made top download speeds of 1,140Mbps (average) possible across their network of almost 16 million premises (c.400,000 of their premises in N.Ireland can already get these speeds).

Outside those areas you can currently expect average speeds of up to c.630Mbps from their existing EuroDOCSIS 3.0 based packages (via their top Ultimate Oomph TV bundle).

Seamus McCorry, Regional Director for Northern Ireland at Virgin Media, said:

“Virgin Media boasts the largest gigabit broadband network in Northern Ireland and we’re delighted to be able to bring our next-generation connectivity to more homes in Newry and surrounding areas.

Our Gig1 broadband provides speeds 28 times faster than the local average, meaning whether you’re working remotely, gaming online with friends or Zooming with family, you never have to worry about your broadband letting you down.”

At this point we have to highlight the aforementioned boast of having the “largest gigabit broadband network in Northern Ireland” as this is subject to some debate. According to Thinkbroadband’s independent data, Openreach’s gigabit-capable FTTP network is now available to 60% of premises (the official figure is 65%) and FTTP from all operators combined currently totals 64.93%. We don’t know the level of Virgin Media’s FTTP coverage, but their HFC cable network reaches a shade over 44% of premises in NI.