Theresa Villiers, MP for Barnet has welcomed further progress in her campaign to improve broadband speeds in Barnet. Virgin Media are today announcing that by the end of 2018 it will have expanded its ultrafast broadband network to 400,000 homes and businesses in London, including 40,000 in Barnet. This will give many Londoners a much needed connectivity boost with access to the fastest widely-available broadband speeds.
This is being delivered as part of Virgin Media’s £3bn Project Lightning programme, which has already started in the capital with an additional 90,000 premises covered to date and 38,000 more London premises to be given access to ultrafast speeds by early 2017.
Project Lightning will include a significant investment in Barnet which will see fibre connected directly to 40,000 homes and businesses by the end of 2018.
Theresa Villiers said “I have been campaigning for better broadband for Barnet for years. I asked Virgin Media representatives to come to Barnet to meet local residents and businesses who want better digital connectivity. We made a case for Virgin to include Barnet in the expansion of its fibre network and I am delighted they have listened to us.”
“I warmly welcome the Project Lightning plans announced by Virgin Media to connect up thousands more homes and businesses in Barnet to their expanding fibre network. This is great news. Many of my constituents want to have Virgin Media services as one of the choices open to them for their household or business digital connection needs.”
“I am also pleased to say that the campaign for better broadband is delivering progress from BT as well. They are now starting to fill the gaps in their fast broadband coverage in High Barnet and Underhill. Cabinet 40, on the corner of Bells Hill and West End Lane is being connected today. Cabinet 64, near the Spires shopping centre recently went live with a fast broadband connection. Progress is expected soon on other BT cabinets identified by the Barnet Society as needing to be upgraded to provide faster services."
Virgin Media offers the fastest widely-available speeds in the UK of up to 200Mbps for consumers and 300Mbps for businesses, much faster than the BT options currently available to households in Barnet.
Virgin Media has a Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) network in the UK which combines optical fibre and coaxial cable. The core network is fibre optic which provides ultrafast broadband to the street cabinet. Broadband is then delivered to the majority of premises using the Company’s superior coaxial cable powered by DOCSIS3 technology.
Backed by parent company Liberty Global, Virgin Media is investing £3bn to connect a total of 17 million premises to its network by 2019. This is the single largest investment in the UK’s broadband infrastructure for more than a decade.
As network expansion continues across the country, Virgin Media is asking those who haven’t yet registered their interest in getting connected to ultrafast broadband to visit www.virginmedia.com/cablemystreet
Virgin Media’s network currently covers 2.8 million premises in London.