Virgin Media O2 Boosts 1,000 UK Mobile Sites with 10Gbps Fibre Backhaul
Broadband ISP and mobile operator Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2) have today announced that the recent introduction (here) of their new “next generation” Converged Interconnect Network (CIN) has already helped to improve its mobile network across the UK, not least by connecting 1,000 mobile sites to its proprietary 10Gbps fibre optic backhaul network.
In case anybody has forgotten, the new CIN essentially brings their fixed line (FTTP, DOCSIS etc.) and mobile networks (4G, 5G etc.) together in a way that will make them more efficient, resilient, scalable and flexible. This takes the core deeper into VMO2’s network, with IP routed networks deployed in the access network, and allows different services to coexist on the network and be managed more easily, with the end customer moving closer to an optimised, scalable and high-capacity network (i.e. data is aggregated closer to the end user before routing it back to the core network).
The 1,000 O2 mobile sites being discussed today were previously connected to a third-party backhaul connection, which VMO2 complained could “act as a bottleneck” at busy times. By connecting the sites to their own fibre network, O2 customers should benefit from a higher capacity network with greater throughput (faster mobile broadband speeds).
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Steven Verigotta, Director of Radio & Mobile Backhaul Delivery at VMO2, said:
“We are always looking for ways to deliver a better network experience for our customers. By leveraging our converged network, we have been able to quickly and efficiently increase capacity and throughput at 1,000 mobile sites across the country, helping deliver tangible improvements for our customers. This is all part of our plan to provide customers with the best connectivity, no matter where they are.”
The operator claims that this approach to backhaul connections can also accelerate the rollout of O2’s mobile network in the future. “By leveraging its converged network and connecting mobile masts to Virgin Media’s fixed fibre network, the operator can remove the need to pay for a fixed backhaul connection provided by a competitor,” added VMO2.
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, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Great news
So they’ve switched 1000 sites from BT/Openreach backhaul to their own, providing more bandwidth at the same time because it’s now much cheaper for them.
Exactly. I left VM just before the merger, I would have enjoyed working in this project. The savings on the EADs must have been insane. Quite surprised they didn’t go for 100g links, although the equipment is still extremely pricey, now the civils work to get fibre into the sites is done 100g upgrades once the prices come down will be a doddle
Likely because the 5171 has 36 fixed SFP+ and 4 SFP28 ports and it’s the main access router the masts go into. It only has 4 QSFP28 ports maximum and needs those for uplink.
The 8180s have 32 fixed QSFP28 ports and up to 4 * 400G available but will be aggregation not access devices with 5171s terminating circuits and using 8180s for uplink. OLTs go into the 8180s directly, and sit at the same level as 5171s. Indeed 5171s can be used as OLTs.
I wonder where these 1000 sites are?
Where virgin ha e fibre network, the rest still use Openreach EAD.
Does this spell the end of O2’s appalling congestion?
Not in all cases, but it will certainly help. Backhaul has been a bottleneck for O2 for years.
It would be interesting to understand if :
Any level of resilience and if so :
Is it on the VM network or did they leave the EADS in place etc
Or is it microwave to another mast?
That explains the activity around a few of the masts in my area then (Sandhurst Berks)
We’ve had nexfibre rolled out around here so it makes perfect sense to connect the masts up to it.
3mbps at best between 1pm and 6pm every day on 4g/5g connections.
Keep claiming it’s congestion, in the middle of the countryside
People made fun of Three for wanting to have 10G connections on their masts, but turns out it makes sense.
Just ran a speedtest on a giffgaff sim at 10pm and got 72mbps down, way higher than I ever seen before, but upload timed out.
Hard to tell what is congestion or just signal quality. I tried running speedtest stood next to a 3 5G mast a while ago it beat my FTTP connection by quite a margin.
Lucky to get more than 0.05 mb up and down here.
So more waffle from the wafflers at o2.
If they didn’t upgrade your mast they definitely didn’t upgrade any and are just lying about it. Definitely.
Ha Ha… this is still not good enough. As O2 have the slowest poor connectivity I have ever seen. In the EU we see full speeds and yet in te UK we get the opposite.
Still only getting about 1 Mbps download in my area, and the upload test times out. Skelmersdale, Lancs.
Also, o2 block adguard DNS whereas Virgin (Nexfibre) does not. The only reason I have a cheap o2 SIM is for the broadband boost on my Virgin connection and it’s a good job as I can’t rely on the o2 data network.
O2 data speeds are the worst I’ve ever seen. I’m a truck driver and I can’t even rely on the network to keep my sat nav working. Regularly told I’ve got 5G to then speed test it to 15mbs. They are a joke, I can’t believe that they are allowed to get away with it. I’m stuck with them for 24 months because I believed the lies of their marketing.