Virgin Media has announced plans to connect an additional 360,000 homes and businesses in Scotland to its fibre optic network by the end of 2019.
The expansion, part of the £3 billion Project Lightning, is in addition to the one million premises the cablenet already serves in the country.
First to benefit will be 55,000 premises in Ayrshire and another 70,000 premises in Fife. Villages in West Lothian and Renfrewshire, who finished in the top ten communities of the ‘Supercharging Local Communities’ initiative earlier this year wi;; also be connected.
Fergus Ewing, Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity and Member of the Scottish Parliament, said: “I welcome the news that Virgin Media will be rolling out ultrafast broadband to over 300,000 premises in Scotland alongside launching the first Scottish Tech City in Glasgow. The Scottish Government has put digital connectivity at the heart of its agenda, recognising that broadband is vital to the sustainability of our economy and communities. Commercial investment will play a huge part in delivering that commitment and I am delighted to welcome the substantial investment that Virgin Media are making in Scotland.”
Virgin Media provides the UK’s fastest broadband speeds at 200Mbps for consumers and 300Mbps for businesses.
Martin McFadyen, Regional Director for Scotland at Virgin Media, said: “We are delighted to be expanding our network to bring better broadband, faster connectivity and top-notch TV to more premises across Scotland. Our ambition is to give more people in Scotland the broadband boost they deserve. We urge local councils and landlords to work with us to ensure this expansion happens as quickly as possible.”
Backed by parent company Liberty Global, Virgin is investing £3 billion to connect 4 million additional premises to its UK network, which will bring the total premises connected to Virgin Media’s UK network to 17 million by 2019.
