Virgin Media O2 Says AI Saved UK Customers 400,000 Hours in Support Calls

Broadband and mobile provider Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2) has today stated that their adoption of AI-based improvements to their automated phone system, as well as cross-skilling 5,000 agents and simplifying team structures, has reduced the number of calls transferred by its agents by 1.3 million in 2025 – saving customers around 400,000 hours of their time.

Historically, all customers calling Virgin Media or O2 would have been prompted to press a number on their handset depending on the nature of their query, with their response dictating which team they’d be routed to. However, where a customer query didn’t fall perfectly within the options presented, or they wanted to discuss more than one issue, customers would sometimes be transferred between teams, causing frustration.

Today, the majority of customers are now invited to explain the reason for their call at the outset, with AI technology – Natural Language Understanding (NLU) – used to better understand the customer’s intent and connect them to an agent who can provide the support required.

As a result of VMO2’s ongoing focus on improving customer service, complaints to the regulator, Ofcom, about the company are said to have more than halved over the past 12 months. But crucially, Ofcom doesn’t tackle individual complaints, and it might thus be more helpful to know how many complaints about them had also been sent to the ADR (complaints ombudsman) providers.

Alan Stott, VMO2’s Director of Customer Contact, said:

“We always aim to provide a seamless experience for our customers and minimise the need to contact us for support. After all, nobody enjoys spending their time on the phone to their service provider, particularly when they’re being transferred between teams.

Where a customer does need to speak to us, we want to make their experience as simple, efficient and productive as possible. That is why we’ve introduced AI technology which allows a customer to explain the reason for their call at the outset and quickly routes them to the appropriate team.

Together with cross-skilling agents and simplifying our team structures, these improvements helped to reduce call transfers by over a million last year, saving our customers a combined 400,000 hours on the phone to us. We’ll continue to invest in our people and systems throughout 2026 and beyond to ensure we’re consistently giving our customers the best possible service.”

At present, VMO2 hasn’t yet fully deployed this new approach, but they are planning to “fully roll out” the AI-led system cross all customer journeys “over the coming months“.