Credit: Mikael Buck / Virgin Media O2
Virgin Media O2 owners Liberty Global & Telefonica have confirmed they’re in discussions with potential financial partners to expand its full-fibre network by another seven million premises.
The move follows the completion of the 15.6 million home upgrade of Virgin’s existing broadband network to gigabit speeds.
Virgin Media O2 would be the anchor tenant of the network that would expand its own reach to 23 million premises by 2027. Already Virgin Media can offer speeds of up to 1.1Gbps, 22 times the national average, however, it is being chased in the full-fibre space by both BT Openreach and challenger companies such as CityFibre.
The number of broadband subscribers on the Virgin Media O2 network increased by 177,000 in 2021 and 60,000 in Q4. The average Virgin Media broadband speed was 214Mbps. It added 142,000 fixed-line customers in 2022, taking the fixed-line base to 5.8 million, while 344,000 contract mobile additions moved the mobile base to 42.4 million.
However, despite the momentum of the merged company, transaction revenue for the full year 2021, fell by 1.2% on the year, and by 0.7% in the final quarter to £2.7 billion.
Lutz Schüler, CEO of Virgin Media O2, said: “In a historic year for our business, which saw the completion of the UK’s largest-ever telecoms merger, we stayed focused and finished 2021 on a high. We saw sustained subscriber growth across fixed and mobile as the demand for fast, reliable connectivity remains, and delivered an increase in profitability while investing more than £2bn in our network, services and future growth drivers.”
Virgin Media O2 estimates that it delivered 57% of UK broadband net additions across the incumbent and Virgin Media O2’s fixed networks.
The company’s Project Lightning network expansion saw Q4 new build ramp to 93,000, resulting in 328,000 additional premises passed in 2021 and a cumulative Lightning build of 2.7 million. It’s anticipated half a million additional homes will be added during 2022.
