Virgin Media to install more fibre optic internet for businesses

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Unified Communications

Published: January 4, 2017

Rob Scott

Rob Scott

Publisher

As more people across the UK turn to the concept of home-based and remote working, access to fast and reliable broadband has emerged as an essential matter for aspiring professionals across the company.

As such, Virgin Media Business – the division in Virgin Media that deals with offering services to UK businesses, recently unveiled new plans to connect huge groups of new businesses to ultrafast connection speeds by the end of 2019. The plan comes alongside a £3 billion “Project Lightning” network expansion – designed to offer faster connectivity to the masses.

Connections for Local Businesses

Initially, the project will address some of the underserved office blocks and business parks that exist within reach of the existing fibre optic network that Virgin have in place. From there, the company will begin to build its 300Mbps network to the first 9,000 new businesses during the next six months, starting with two business parks across Andover, in Hampshire.

The new development by Virgin Media Business should assist more local UK businesses in capitalising on the $92 billion of potential opportunities offered through the digital age – a number revealed in a report that was commissioned by Virgin Media in 2015, to show that technology could boost the economy by as much as 2.5% of the current GDP.

Faster Broadband Across the UK

Alongside improving home-working and remote solutions for local businesses, Virgin Media also hope that their expansion will help to deliver faster broadband to further residential spaces across the UK.

According to the director at Virgin Media Business, Mike Smith:

“Too many business parks and office blocks are stuck in the analogue age”.

Thanks to the new superfast network, Virgin have a unique opportunity to positively impact thousands of businesses throughout the country.

The first sites to be addressed in the ultrafast upgrade are the Walworth and Portway Business Parks in Andover, Hampshire, which cover around 150 hectares. The arrival of the new services were supported by the work of the Test Valley Borough Council, who are offering new solutions to local businesses who, until recently, had suffered with download speeds of around 5Mbps.

According to the Economic Portfolio Holder for the Test Valley Borough Council, Peter Giddings:

“High bandwidth and affordable broadband is an essential utility for everyone.”.

Giddings commented that they were delighted to work with Virgin Media in improving new connectivity opportunities for Andover.

This new development isn’t just intended to help Andover business parks catch up with the broadband availability elsewhere in the UK. In fact, Mike Smith commented that thanks to the corporation and support of the Test Valley Borough Council, the Walworth and Portway business parks would soon be leading providers of broadband connectivity and speed in the UK. Tenants will be able to make more money from their digital endeavours, and new businesses will be attracted into the area.

Obviously, this upgrade is a fantastic opportunity for any area that invests in higher broadband speeds and capability. Today, connectivity isn’t just a luxury for businesses – but an essential part of staying ahead of the competition.

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