Virgin Media launches search for communities to receive ultrafast broadband boost

Virgin Media today launched its Supercharging Local Communities' initiative, the search for local communities to benefit from an ultrafast broadband boost as part of its £3bn network expansion plan across the UK.

Homes and businesses can sign up today

Homes and businesses within 18 counties across the UK could benefit from an ultrafast optical fibre broadband connection delivered direct to their door, as part of Virgin Media's Project Lightning network expansion. Virgin Media is calling upon residents and businesses to influence the decision on where to begin, by registering interest at www.virginmedia.com/cablemystreet

Ultrafast broadband up to 300 Mbps

For local residents, Virgin Media's Vivid 200 broadband is the best way to experience the internet with download speeds of up to 200Mbps. This is more than two and a half times faster than the top widely available speeds from BT, TalkTalk and Sky meaning that a whole household can stream movies, music and more all at the same time.

For local businesses, Virgin Media Business now offers ultrafast connectivity as standard, with speeds of up to 300Mbps almost four times faster than its main competitors' widely available top speeds. This enables businesses to reach their potential by delivering better services and greater capacity.

Virgin Media's optical fibre broadband also uses a unique technology called DOCSIS 3. The use of this technology together with fibre cable connected directly to the customer's property means it can deliver faster, more reliable broadband to homes and businesses.

Paul Buttery, Chief Operating Officer at Virgin Media said: Expanding our network to communities in across 18 UK counties shows that ultrafast broadband isn't just for the big cities, we are dedicated to investing and delivering connectivity across the UK. Better broadband brings huge benefits for people and businesses. You can now help to bring ultrafast internet access to your home or business by registering today at Cablemystreet.

New, faster build method

This expansion uses an innovative way of bringing ultrafast broadband to people's homes with minimal disruption. The approach, called narrow-trenching, reduces the width of the trench used to lay optical fibre cables from around 40cm to just 10cm and enables engineers to cover up to 100m in a day, making it more than twice as fast as current methods. The residents will receive the very latest broadband technology with fibre delivered direct to the home. A similar technique has been used recently in Leicester where Virgin Media has started to connect six villages.

The 18 counties are: Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Derbyshire, Dorset, Glamorgan, Hampshire, Leicestershire, North Yorkshire, Oxfordshire, Renfrewshire, Rhondda, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Lothian, West Yorkshire, Worcestershire.

LINK:	http://about.virginmedia.com/press-release/9504/virgin-media-launches-...
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