17,000 Extra Scarborough Homes Get Virgin Media’s Full Fibre
UK ISP Virgin Media (VMO2) and nexfibre have just completed another expansion of their 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) broadband network, which is now serving an additional 17,000 homes and businesses in the coastal North Yorkshire (England) town of Scarborough.
Just to recap. Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners created a new joint venture called nexfibre in 2022 (here) – backed by £4.5bn – that aims to deploy a separate open access full fibre network to reach “up to” 7 million UK homes in areas NOT currently served by Virgin Media – starting with 5 million by 2026. But Virgin Media, which shares some of the same parents, is currently the only ISP on this network (here).
Rajiv Datta, CEO of nexfibre, said: “[Our] multi-million-pound investment in Scarborough will enable thousands of households and businesses to access the benefits of full fibre broadband, including being able to participate in the local economy and connect with the community.”
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So far nexfibre has already covered over 500,000 premises (excluding the 175,000 they recently acquired from Upp), although they’ve yet to reveal a solid rollout plan and thus consumers often remain uncertain about whether they’ll be reached by the network’s future expansion plans. But a lot of their builds, like this one, have generally reflected extensions of Virgin Media’s existing deployment areas.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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I would add this service has also gone live in Ryton, Gateshead. I have the 1Gbs package with the new 5X hub. All good so far but the 5X lacks a supported modem mode so you can’t use your own kit.
Firmware 1.7 will be along soon with bridge mode. So you will soon be able to use your own devices.
@DX That’s good to know. Do you think that will be released this year?
From what I hear – very late this year or early next
I’ve noticed that Virgin only offer broadband and not TV (other than their stream service) in the area. Anyone know why?
Yes – it’s XGSPON fibre
It has no RF broadcast overlay for TV services like HFC or RFOG areas
I would expect a more advanced IP TV solution soon
Liberty Global, owner of VM, has no recordable IPTV box. Hopefully one will be released in 2024.
Interesting. Thanks guys.