Virgin Media O2 says AI saved customers a collective total of 46 years on the phone last year

Virgin Media O2 says it saved customers the collecctive equivalent of 46 years hanging on the phone, last year.

This follows the rollout of AI tools and changes to its customer contact operation.The operator claims it cut 1.45 billion seconds from call handling times in 2025 after reducing call transfers by 1.3 million year on year,

Customer service has been a weak spot for the combined business since the Virgin Media–O2 merger pushing ithigh in Ofcom’s league tables, particularly for mobile and pay-TV issues. In 2024, O2 generated 23 complaints per 100,000 mobile customers, the highest among major networks.

Historically, callers were forced into a maze of rigid keypad menus before being routed to a department, often to be transferred again if their query did not fit neatly into a single category.

Virgin Media O2 says that experience is now changing. Most customers are asked to explain the reason for their call at the outset, with AI-driven Natural Language Understanding technology assessing intent and routing the call to the appropriate agent first time. The system is already live across large parts of the business, with a full rollout planned.

The company has also reviewed where call transfers were most common and simplified team structures. Around 5,000 customer service agents have been cross-trained to deal with a wider range of issues without transferring calls.

Alan Stott, Alan Stott, Director of Customer Contact at Virgin Media O2, said the focus has been on reducing unnecessary friction.

“Nobody enjoys spending their time on the phone, particularly when they’re being transferred between teams,” he said. “Where customers do need to contact us, our priority is to make that experience as simple and efficient as possible.”

The customer service improvements form part of a broader turnaround strategy outlined last year by chief executive Lutz Schüler.