Virgin Media and Nexfibre Expand FTTP to 5,000 Homes in Whitby

Broadband operator nexfibre, which shares some of their parentage with retail UK ISP partner Virgin Media (O2), has today confirmed that they’ve made their 2Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) broadband network available to more than 5,000 additional homes in Whitby (North Yorkshire, England).

The town previously only had a small amount of coverage from Virgin Media’s own gigabit broadband network, although the nexfibre build means they’re now able to reach a sizeable majority of local premises within the community. Openreach’s rival FTTP network also has a decent level of coverage in the seaside town, albeit concentrated more around the central riverside areas.

Nexfibre itself has already covered around 1.6 million premises across the UK with their new full fibre network, and they’re currently in the process of investing another £1bn this year, which should enable them to cover an additional 1 million UK premises by the end of 2024 (reaching a total footprint of c.2m).

Just for some context. Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners originally set up the new £4.5bn nexfibre joint venture in 2022 (here), which aims to deploy an open access fibre network to reach “up to” 7 million UK homes (starting with 5m by 2026) in areas NOT currently served by Virgin Media’s network of 16m+ premises. The funding reflects £3.3bn of fully underwritten financing and up to £1.4bn in equity commitments.