Virgin Media O2 has announced plans to upgrade its UK fixed network to full fibre to the premises (FTTP) by 2028. This investment will boost its long-term network strategy and create potential to offer wholesale broadband services, the company said.
The plan will see the company upgrade the cable parts of its fibre-rich network with full-fibre technology. After taking into account the operator's existing 1.2 million FTTP homes, the upgrade plan will cover 14.3 million cable premises. The Docsis 3.1 cable network will continue to be maintained and developed during the upgrade period, which includes meeting 2021 gigabit targets. Virgin Media O2 aims to deliver speeds of 1.1 Gbps across its entire network by end-2021.
The company will also continue expanding its fibre network to new areas through the Project Lightning network expansion programme. It is also exploring further expansion opportunities to reach millions of additional premises, with talks ongoing with financial and strategic partners. The full-fibre network upgrade will cost around GBP 100 per premises passed, with customer installation costs on top. This compares to around GBP 60 per premises for an upgraded to a full Docsis 4 cable network. The total upgrade costs over the 7-year project will lead a modest annual increase to the group's current capex budget of around GBP 2 billion per year.
Meanwhile, Virgin Media O2 said it added 36,000 broadband subscribers in Q2 2021, boosting its fixed-line customer base to 5.7 million. It also added almost one million mobile connections in the quarter, including IoT SIMs and services provided to other operators on the O2 network. EBITDA adjusted for the merger increased by 6.2 percent year-on-year, with revenue up 1.5 percent from Q1 2021.
More than 40 percent of the group's broadband customers also take a mobile contract. The 5G network now reaches almost 200 locations, and 4G network capacity has been upgraded in 45,000 postcodes since start-2021.
