Virgin Media O2's entire broadband network now supports gigabit speeds

Virgin Media O2 has announced that gigabit speeds are now available across the entirety of its broadband network. Specifically, it said that the network allows for download speeds of 1,130 Mbps which is about 22 times faster than the national average. The upgrade took about two years, according to the firm, and reaches a government target four years early

In its announcement, the company said:

“Virgin Media O2 has today completed the upgrade of its entire national network to gigabit speeds, delivering nearly two-thirds of the Government’s broadband ambition four years ahead of the target date and cementing the company’s status as the UK’s largest gigabit provider.”

While the company is ahead of the competition, it is not sitting still. It has recently performed real-world trials demonstrating the deliverance of 2.2 Gbps to homes using the existing network and related technology. This could mean customers will get a further speed boost in the future without extra work needing to be done to the infrastructure.

Longer-term, the company has said it will be upgrading its fixed network to full fibre to the premises (FTTP). It expects to have this complete by 2028 and it will enable the delivery of symmetrical 10 Gbps download and upload speeds.

While the speeds Virgin Media O2 is talking about may seem like overkill to you now, they will become more necessary later in the decade as new technologies come online which require large software packages to be downloaded quickly.