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Network operator nexfibre and supporting retail broadband ISP partner Virgin Media (O2), which share some of the same parentage, have today announced that they’ve expanded the reach of their symmetric 2Gbps speed capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to more than 13,000 homes in the Gloucestershire market town of Stroud for the first time.
The area is currently already well covered by Openreach’s and Netomnia’s gigabit-capable FTTP broadband networks. But until recently there was little to no presence from Virgin Media, either directly or via nexfibre, which has of course now changed. Not bad for a town with a population of just 13,500, although the nexfibre build extends a bit beyond just the town itself.
Nexfibre, which reflects a £4.5bn joint venture between Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners (here), has so far already covered 2.3 million premises across the UK with their new full fibre network. But the operator’s original plan to cover “up to” 7 million UK homes (starting with 5m by 2026) in areas NOT currently served by Virgin Media’s network of 16m+ premises was recently dealt a blow by Telefonica’s strategic review (here). The operator now only expects to reach 2.5 million premises by the end of 2025 and uncertainty remains over what comes next.