Virgin Media O2 UK Fibre Break Disrupts London Schools UPDATE2

The London Grid for Learning (LGfL), which currently works alongside Virgin Media Business (VMO2) to supply ultrafast broadband to c.3,000 schools in London (over 1.2 million children), reports that one of VMO2’s fibre optic cables has been “seriously damaged” and is disrupting connectivity to various schools and businesses.

The incident is understood to be impacting connectivity services in South East London, particularly schools in the Lewisham, Bexley, Southwark and Greenwich areas. “There has been an underground power-related event that has seriously damaged fibre cabling & public infrastructure,” said the LGfL via Twitter.

We are currently in the process of trying to get more information, although LGfL warns that this “very serious incident” is likely to cause disruption for “AT LEAST 24 Hours.” According to one of our sources, the damage was caused by an “underground electrical power explosion” that hit nearby fibre cabling and is thus affecting schools and a range of other sites.

The explosion occurred under a busy roundabout, which means that fixing the damage is likely to be much more complex and disruptive than usual. But first the area has to be made safe, before the engineers can begin their work.

UPDATE 2:08pm

We’ve had a statement from VMO2.

A VM Spokesperson told ISPreview.co.uk:

“We are aware of an incident on the UK Power Networks electricity network which has damaged some of our underground cables and is causing a loss of services for some customers in the Lewisham area. Our engineers are on site and are working closely with UK Power Networks teams to restore services as quickly as possible.

We apologise to customers affected and are working as quickly as possible to repair the damaged cables.”

UPDATE 16th July 2021 @ 7:31am

The CEO of the LGfL has posted a picture of the damage on Twitter, including a small update.