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Saf Malik
January 27, 2021
Virgin’s entire network of 15 million homes will gain access to gigabit speeds by the end of the year
Virgin Media has announced it has partnered with the UK’s largest housebuilder, Barratt Developments, to bring broadband to all new Barratt homes.
Barratt Developments will build 15,000 homes in the UK this year and all of these will be connected to Virgin Media’s ultrafast broadband network.
Virgin’s ultrafast broadband provides speeds of up to 1,140Mbps and the network currently offers gigabit speeds to more than seven million homes in the UK. Its entire network of 15 million homes will gain access to gigabit speeds by the end of 2021.
Figures released by Virgin Media in December showed that on average, customers used 2.8GB of additional data every day last year making 2020 the provider’s busiest year ever.
Virgin Media plans to expand its network to bring ultrafast connectivity to hundreds of thousands of homes each year as part of its ‘Project Lightning’ network expansion programme.
Virgin Media director of network expansion Rob Evans said: “This innovative and exciting partnership between Virgin Media and Barratt Homes will mean that new homeowners will have access to the UK’s fastest widely available broadband from day one of moving into their new home.
“Our connectivity will provide residents with the ultrafast and reliable broadband services which have never been so important to the way we live our daily lives.
“It is essential that all new homes have access to the fastest speeds available and we will continue to work with developers across the UK to ensure more homes are connected to such vital services.”
Barratt Developments COO Steven Boyes added: “We’re really pleased to be able to offer this new unified service to our customers and Virgin Media has been integral to that.
“Delivering different broadband services on a site by site basis can sometimes cause problems for customers, so by coming together to build a unified system with Barratt it will deliver a much better service, benefitting everyone.”