Virgin Media 02 close in on 1Gbps capability for it’s network

Virgin Media 02 is now able to offer 90% of its customer base blistering speeds of 1gbps after completing the latest stage of their nationwide rollout.

These incredibly high speeds are roughly 22 x faster than the national average and are available to 14.3 million homes in the UK. For reference, it would allow you to download a 4k movie in under 5 minutes. 

This milestone puts Virgin Media 02 within touching distance of 1GB capability for their entire network, with the last leap planned to be completed by the end of the year. The final areas getting upgraded will include rural towns such as Lancaster, Bath, Lincoln, Huddersfield, Ipswich and Salisbury among others.

Lutz Schüler, CEO of VMO2, said: “We’re making great strides ahead in upgrading the UK and are within touching distance of bringing the benefits of future-proof gigabit broadband to everyone on our network.

“With our gigabit rollout progressing at an unmatched pace, we’re building the next-generation broadband network that’s ready for the technology of tomorrow.”

It’s important to note that Virgin Media’s upgrades currently only affect download speeds. The infrastructure affecting upload speeds is not planned to be upgraded until 2028

Upgrades to the network fall in line with government plans to have 85% of the country gigabit-capable by 2025. 

Connecting the whole of the UK to high-speed internet has been a government priority for close to 10 years now, as access to fast and reliable broadband becomes more important in the digital age. Covid especially has exacerbated such requirements, as working from home becomes more normal and households in more rural areas especially need better connections.

In the wake of this, the government made getting the majority of the UK gigabit capable a priority, with £5bn dedicated to it back in December 2020. Much of the focus has been on trying to increase connection speeds in harder to reach locations which have been traditionally overlooked by ISP’s due to the relatively low return on investment. 

Current figures show that only around 50% of the country has gigabit-capability, meaning that the nationwide rollout has some work to do in order to hit the 85% target by 2025.

For those interested in gigabit connections, Virgin Media's Gbps speeds currently start at around £60+, and are also available as part of wider entertainment and phone packages. There are also other providers such as Hyperoptic who offer similar speeds but are far less widely available.

If you would like to see whether Virgin, or any other mind-bogglingly fast fibre is available in your area, check out our broadband comparison tool.