Giffgaff Launch Trial of UK Full Fibre Broadband via Nexfibre and Virgin Media
Mobile network provider giffgaff, which is owned by Telefónica and naturally uses O2’s virtual operator (MVNO) platform, has today confirmed their intention to trial and launch a range of full fibre (FTTP) home broadband packages via nexfibre and Virgin Media’s national networks. Much as ISPreview first leaked last year.
Just to recap. Nexfibre is the product of a £4.5bn joint venture (here) between Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners, which aims to deploy an open access full fibre network to reach “up to” 7 million UK homes (starting with 5m by 2026) in areas NOT served by Virgin Media’s own network of 16m+ premises (Telefonica and Liberty Global also own Virgin Media).
Nexfibre’s 10Gbps capable FTTP (XGS-PON) network has so far covered 2 million premises (RFS), which is up from 986,000 in Q1 2024 and much of that has been built by Virgin Media’s engineers. The operator is currently expecting to reach another million premises by the end of 2025. The latter is predicted to cost them another £1bn of their committed investment.
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However, the good news today is that giffgaff has now confirmed what ISPreview first leaked last year (here), which is that they’re planning to launch a range of broadband packages that will initially harness nexfibre’s growing network – the first major provider to do so, other than Virgin Media. This will later also be extended to include Virgin Media’s FTTP network, once that becomes available via wholesale in the next few weeks or months (here).
As part of this, giffgaff has today said they’re looking for “up to 500 trialists” to help them “build a better broadband” by testing the new service and will even pay them £100 to help. In addition, trialists will get 500Mbps broadband for just £10 a month for a whole year (not reflective of the final price!). A small number of early trialists are already testing giffgaff’s new offering, but this marks the first step in doing something much bigger.
Ash Schofield, CEO of giffgaff, said:
“Broadband is a natural evolution for us as a connectivity brand. We know people are frustrated with their current broadband offering so we’re committed to bringing together the best tech, with the experience of the people that matter most – our customers – to build better broadband.”
A Virgin Media O2 spokesperson said:
“The planned launch of a giffgaff broadband service mirrors the successful approach we’ve taken with the brand on the mobile side. It allows us to offer a complete range of broadband and mobile services to a wider mix of different customers and aligns with our broader commercial strategy with three of the best brands in the country. giffgaff broadband is currently in a trial phase, leveraging our wholesale capabilities and recruiting people to test and shape the service, so we’ll share more information later in the year.”
Giffgaff is a brand that has long earned itself a reasonably positive reputation within the mobile space, which is theoretically something that could also help to fuel interest in their future broadband packages. But at the time of writing, we still know very little about their final packages and prices. The latter could provide some useful indications for how competitive Virgin Media’s future wholesale offerings may be with the wider market.
One of the challenges for nexfibre and Virgin Media here will be in enabling other providers to offer competitively priced broadband packages, albeit without disrupting or cannibalising Virgin’s own range of retail broadband products too much. As we’ve said before, finding the right balance here will be particularly difficult once Virgin Media opens up their own network to wholesale (they’re traditionally positioned as more of a premium brand).
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At the time of writing, giffgaff hasn’t said precisely when the final non-trial packages will launch (we’ve been told it’ll be “some time later this year“), but they might wait until after Virgin Media have opened up their existing network to wholesale. Otherwise, anyone interested in giffgaff broadband should register their interest at giffgaff.com/broadband/register-interest to “help it understand demand and where it could launch in the future, or for their chance to be a trialist“.
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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£10 for 500mbps, i would take that any day.
Yes but they won’t be selling that! just a PR stunt. They might as well of said £1 per month.
It’s the price for those in the trial, these are often either free or way less than normal, not some marketing discount.
Whilst it’s no doubt a useful development that Nexfibre are going though the motions with an internal to VMO2 brand to launch an alternative broadband service, they still need to unlock the availability of their installed fullfibre assets in many areas.
Fibre, street cabinets, etc. have been installed now for over two years locally but still no possibility to order a service over it, still being quoted for HFC.
As a brand position, at a guess Giffgaff will be to VMO2 what Plusnet is to BT group.
yes, same here – unused FTTP cabinets for two years. something must have gone wrong in their plans?
Although I have a GiffGaff mobile package and noting the editorial, I am perfectly happy to stick With GiffGaff mobile, understanding the fairly tight integration with virgin media and liberty, having been treated rather badly in the past having taken a package from Zen internet and the awful experience of untangling from VM I wouldn’t touch with a barge pole.
Probably not available to those on HFC cable area.
I doubt it, Nexfibre is not going to trample on Virgin toes are they?
Virgin want to be rid of HFC in the medium term. So Nexfibre as the new full fibre infrastructure vehicle of VMO2 is broadly overbuilding the existing VM footprint.
What is bonkers though is that for a number of existing VM areas the Nexfibre build has been completed but due to some SNAFU within VM they can’t sell services on it yet.
Nexfibre is non-HFC premises only. It is not overbuilding VMO2 with full fibre. VMO2 is overbuilding VMO2 with full fibre.
Nah, I don’t think so, even if it was available here, from what I have heard about Virgin over the years, I want to stay well clear.
Thanks for sharing. Again. I’ll keep it I’m going to buy it to myself on grounds no-one cares if that’s ok.
I don’t currently have any FTTP provider and Virgin look to be coming. I’m really considering it if they do despite what I’ve heard.
That’s the issue though. When it’s your only chance of getting off FTTC 50Mbps, it’s tempting. It’s either that or just keep waiting!
If you really want to get off FTTC and Virgin is your only option, then what else can you do? You could try using a mobile network, but they are hit-and-miss. I presume virgin is the same as most of the others, 24 month contract, so you have to look if you are going to get anything different in the next 24 months.
Nexfibre as it says in the article is not Virgin, companies that own Virgin are to do with it.
If Virgin was here when I moved from FTTC to FTTP, I would no doubt have stayed where I was, but I was not bothered about moving to FTTP.
The thing is, both are as bad as each other, Openreach which belongs to BT or Virgin, both have awful customer service and far too large.
i was in the same boat when nexfibre/vm came here last year, waited for FTTP for 20 years so went with it, no regrets. connection has been rock solid on the 1gb symmetrical package, always get 1.1gb on speedtests up and down, never seen it below. it is miles better than HFC virgin (speed consistency and latency) a friend in another town is on. Only issue with VM is their customer service is poor, my dog chewed my fibre and it was a nightmare to actually get through to a real person to speak to but they had an engineer out the next day to put a new fibre in.
Only a 12 month trial.
Method of increasing attention locally on potential Nexfibre rollout areas
Will not be allowed to undercut Vodafone/VM products (already on Nexfibre) offerings
It will probably become no frills FTTP with discount for Mobile/Broadband combo.
If very aggressive pricing it is Likely to undermine the non-VMO2 ISPs adopting Nexfibre wholesale (and possibly VM going forward).
Perhaps VMO2 are also reviewing their wholesale strategy. The problem for wholesalers is that current market take up of RFS FTTP areas is determined by ISP action. If you own a no fills, enhanced and a TV+ ISP proposition you are in more control.
Vodafone mentioned as they are key ISP on Nexfibre currently.
My bad. Vodafone haven’t utilised Nexfibre.
“Will not be allowed to undercut Vodafone/VM products (already on Nexfibre) offerings”
I think undercutting is exactly what will happen as Giffgaff will be the budget brand and VM will continue to be the premium brand with its Pay TV and phone bundled with broadband. I’m also expecting that both Giffgaff and VM will be charged the same wholesale prices by nexfibre and NetCo, and tranparency matters also by publishing something similar to the “Openreach Price List” if netfibre and NetCo want to attract ISPs to their networks.
‘tranparency matters also by publishing something similar to the “Openreach Price List” if netfibre and NetCo want to attract ISPs to their networks.’
Openreach publish one because they have to offer the same pricing to everyone. BT Wholesale publish one but it’s meaningless as they can do and do agree deals outside of it.
What attracts ISPs is how easy it is to integrate the network into their existing billing, support and provisioning, the options to connect their network into yours, coverage areas, and the product/pricing they are offered.
Openreach connect end customers to a handover point. Up to ISPs to connect to there or pay someone else to connect for them and bring the data to them.
Nexfibre can’t do this: their OLTs are in cabinets. They are going to have to offer a product similar to CityFibre National as well as more local options connecting in chambers, over wavelengths and whatever else is needed to get the job done.
VM’s NetCo can play Nexfibre Wholesale and colocation provider here and I’m sure they’ll be using VMO2 sites extensively.
Should be fun having Vodafone or whomever installing routing and switching kit into a what was a Virgin Media site to interconnect with Nexfibre and NetCo.
@Polish Poler: I don’t see ISPs running their own fibre from CBTs as they do with Openreach, far more likely they just need to connect with VM’s hub sites or downstream aggregated handover points using standard Network-to-Network Interface (NNI) protocols. ISPs will purchase virtual wholesale products from nexfibre and NetCo, and can then be resellers of those products or add a bunch of services to distinguish themselves from competitors. Indeed, adding value will be essential for some ISPs to maintain their brand.
Roger: I was talking about the Openreach FTTP product, not PIA.
The rest not much to say but writing ‘standard Network-to-Network Interface (NNI) protocols.’ makes it look like you read about NNIs on Wikipedia and are trying to flex just FYI.
Giffgaff Just another arm of the Virgin /o2 brand so what’s the point
The point is that they can learn how to operationally support a separate arms length ISP using the Nexfibre infrastructure as a wholesale platform before they open up Nexfibre to complete with OpenReach, CityFibre and any other altnets that do wholesale access (eg. Toob)
That’s exactly what I was going to say. It’s an opportunity for vm02 to say to other ISPs look, we’ve done it and you can all come onboard too
I understand your point, but is that not the same for a lot of companies?
Ee was just another Arm of BT, so is Plusnet, but Plusnet was going for a different market
But I don’t see any different between EE and BT.
In the mobile market it is certainly the same, I use Smarty, which is owned by 3, why don;lt 3 just have a sim only service instead of smarty?
It is merely to create the illusion of competition. The whole telecommunications business is awash with brands that once disrupted the market by doing a better job than the big players, only for one of the big players to buy them out. So you end up with the worst of both worlds, multiple brands owned by the same company that then sets about cost saving by attempting to merge operations. The end result is confusion for customers and an incoherent product offering.
Static customers numbers despite digging network expansion like fury. Gotta try summit.
£10 per month for 500Mbps is indeed very enticing!
I know Virgin Media Nexfibre is available in several buildings in my estate area following a wayleave agreement last year June and I’m still waiting for them to go live here.
I’m curious to know what happens in the unlikelihood (should it become available) and got an invitation for a trial. What happens if we are in the middle of an existing contract e.g. with another Altnet like Community Fibre, etc or Openreach FTTC. Or for example, in the middle of an existing VM contract.
If Giffgaff invites 500 trialists, how are we supposed to proceed if we are tied in an existing contract elsewhere? Not sure if Giffgaff would let us wait for our existing contracts to end before proceeding with their trial invitation.
Either have 2 connections side by side or forgo your invitation to trial
As part of accepting the invitation you’d commit to the install on their timing, alongside agreeing the other terms and conditions.
If you can’t or won’t accept them you aren’t on the trial, they’ll go to whoever is next on the list until they reach the 500.
There’s no reason at all to do anything else. They’re offering subsidised Internet and £100. There are plenty of other potential takers who will agree the terms.
Will probably create a monopoly (maybe not such a disaster), but I’d like to see an ISP that is able to utilise all Openreach, cable and AltNet networks. It’s frustrating to see for me as techie all these different technologies, networks and ISP’s that offer x, but aren’t in my area yet, and I can imagine the amount of users who aren’t techie easily getting lost in the amount of choice of different options to get connectivity these days. Couple that with half-decent customer service (if Octopus Energy can do it…), they’d be onto a winner because they’d be trusted to provide the customer a fit for purpose connection.
Half the time as a consumer, they don’t care about the network or technology, they just want an internet connection of xxMbps (even then most people are oversold).
It’s a big investment for an ISP to partner with a network operator, so you will never see one ISP providing service over all networks. The closest might be Sky which, in addition to Openreach, is about to launch services with CityFibre and will surely be interested in both nexfibre and NetCo as well.
Has anyone heard back, I applied but not heard anything yet
Yes, I received the email in my junk mailbox.
Thanks for registering
“Hi Rahul,
Thanks for registering your interest in all things giffgaff broadband.
We’ll be in touch with exciting updates soon. And reaching out to the chosen ones who’ll be getting paid to help us build better broadband. Cha-ching.
Till then, why not check out what else is going on and get involved in our lovely giffgaff community.
Speak soon,
The giffgaff team”
It will be in your junk email rather than your main inbox. You can mark the email as safe so in future those emails don’t enter your junk/spam folder. Nevertheless, this for me is more of an automatic email and it doesn’t really mean they’ll offer the trial just because the email was received. The other thing is if the service does not become available then it is useless once again.
But I still registered, just in case there is a glimmer of hope as you never know since there’s nothing to lose here.
I got that reply just not heard anything else was wondering if anyone got signed up
No one is going to be signed up just yet! The service is due to launch sometime later this year.
This is a pre-registration so that when the service goes live then giffgaff will select 500 people for the trial.
Not everyone will be invited of-course, it will be too many people and it will only happen for those in Nexfibre areas. Not sure if Virgin Media Project Mustang FTTP customers will get this.
If this service doesn’t become available then we won’t be invited.
I think also giffgaff will probably have to launch new routers and I’m not sure if ONT will be included as well. This will take time before they launch their service.
If their fttp speed is as bad as their mobile signal, I’d stay well clear!
Compared to any other signal, including other MVNOs, Giff Gaff is atrocious. It even seems to be affected abroad! I have Smarty and my with has Giff Gaff and we were both on Movistar in Spain a few weeks ago and my signal was still superior.
If their fttp speed is as bad as their mobile signal, I’d stay well clear!
Compared to any other signal, including other MVNOs, Giff Gaff is atrocious. It even seems to be affected abroad! I have Smarty and my wife has Giff Gaff and we were both on Movistar in Spain a few weeks ago and my signal was still superior.