More than 12,000 homes and businesses in Heysham and Lancaster can now access Virgin Media’s gigabit broadband services for the first time.
Customers in these areas can now sign-up to services including broadband which offers top speeds of 1,130Mbps – 17 times faster than local average (67Mbps) – perfect for working remotely, streaming films or gaming.
Virgin Media’s services are now available locally after work to bring full fibre connections to the area has been completed.
The network has been built on behalf of nexfibre, which is investing £4.5 billion to deliver high speed fibre to the home (FTTH) connections to 5 million homes across the UK by 2026. Virgin Media O2 is using this next-generation network to deliver its broadband and TV Stream services to homes and businesses in the area.
County councillor Aidy Riggott said: “We welcome the latest expansion of full fibre broadband to over 12,000 homes in Heysham and Marsh, thanks to this multi-million pound investment.
“This step forward aligns strongly with Lancashire’s broader economic and regeneration activities and will build on and support projects delivered by the County Council.
“We look forward to continuing to work closely with our partners in continuing to expand and to enable high quality broadband in the semi-rural and suburban parts of Lancashire to provide an essential boost to the local and national economy.”
Rajiv Datta, CEO at nexfibre said: “We’re proud to be able to facilitate access to full fibre broadband thanks to our multi-million pound investment. We continue on our mission to build and expand our network in suburban and semi-rural areas, play our part in helping to close the digital divide and boost the UK economy.”
Virgin Media O2 invests around £2 billion a year in its networks and services and is also in the process of upgrading its entire fixed network to full fibre to the home (FTTH) technology over the coming years.