Virgin Media UK and Nexfibre Bring Full Fibre to 21,000 Homes in Littlehampton

Network operator nexfibre and supporting broadband ISP partner Virgin Media (O2), which share some of the same parentage, have today announced that they’ve expanded the reach of their symmetric 2Gbps speed full fibre (FTTP) network to more than 21,000 homes in the West Sussex seaside town of Littlehampton “for the first time“.

The town, which is home to a population of around 28,000, is already partly coverage by gigabit-capable broadband from the likes of Openreach and Trooli. On top of that there are a few small FTTP deployments from OFNL (FibreNest), Hyperoptic and possibly others. But now locals can add Virgin Media (inc. nexfibre) to the list as a major provider of local gigabit broadband connectivity.

Nexfibre, which reflects a £4.5bn joint venture between Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners (here), has so far already covered around 2.3 million premises across the UK with their new full fibre network. But the operator’s original plan to cover “up to” 7 million UK homes (starting with 5m by 2026) in areas NOT currently served by Virgin Media’s network of 16m+ premises was recently dealt a blow by Telefonica’s strategic review (here).

At present, nexfibre now only expects to reach 2.5 million UK premises by the end of 2025 and uncertainty remains over what comes next. But Virgin Media has recently announced the creation of a new fixed wholesale until, which will enable retail ISPs to harness both of their FTTP networks (here) – currently available to a combined 7 million UK premises.