In the latest extension of the operator’s gigabit broadband services to non-metropolitan areas in the UK, 18,000 more homes in the town of Yeovil in Somerset can now access Virgin Media O2’s gigabit broadband services for the first time.

VMO2’s services are now available to more homes locally after work to bring full fibre connections to the area has been completed. The network has been built on behalf of nexfibre, which is investing £4.5bn to deliver high speed fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections to five million homes across the UK by 2026.

The fruits of a £4.5bn investment from VMO2 shareholders Liberty Global and Telefónica, alongside investment firm InfraVia Capital Partners, nexfibre was launched to create the UK’s first national-scale challenger to BT Openreach, boosting choice and competition in the market. The key stated objective for nexfibre is to roll out fibre initially to five million homes not currently served by the VMO2 network by 2026, with the opportunity to expand to an additional two million homes.

VMO2 has an exclusive partnership with nexfibre and aims to have a fibre footprint reaching 80% of the UK when coupled with its own fibre upgrade plans, which complete in 2028, with nexfibre providing a material baseline of penetration to build upon.

In April 2024, nexfibre announced it had a total of one million premises passed and ready for service, reaching a seven-digit number of premises in 14 months, claiming to make it the fastest fibre build programme of any UK network.

The Yeovil deployment will see user able to sign-up to services including Gig2 broadband which offers top speeds of 2Gbps, which VMO2 said is 38 times faster than the current local average, as per UK comms regulator Ofcom’s Connected nations report 2022, published on 15 December 2023.

Commenting on the installation, Julie Agnew, managing director of fixed network expansion at Virgin Media O2 said: “18,000 more homes in Yeovil can now feel the benefit of Virgin Media’s services – with packages that include everything from next-generation multigigabit broadband to easy-to-use TV streaming and entertainment services.

“These ultrareliable full-fibre to the home broadband connections come with speeds – up to 38 times faster than local average – providing total peace of mind that whatever you’re doing online, you’ll never be slowed down by your service.”

Nexfibre CEO Rajiv Datta added: “Nexfibre’s multimillion-pound investment in Yeovil will enable thousands of households to access the benefits of full fibre broadband, including being able to participate in the local economy and connect with the community. It marks a significant step on our journey to connect five million premises by 2026.”