Virgin Media and HBF begin partnership to deliver ultrafast broadband to UK homes

Virgin Media and the Home Builders Federation today announced a partnership to increase delivery of ultrafast broadband services to new homes across the UK.

The partnership will enable HBF members, who deliver the majority of new build homes in England and Wales, to build homes with the infrastructure in place to provide 200Mbps broadband, more than 230 TV channels and landline services for customers.

To help home builders, Virgin Media has launched a dedicated new portal including essential technical guidance and a simple new site request form. As part of the agreement, Virgin Media will carrying out all initial new site assessments free of charge.

Virgin Media will also offer exclusive discounts for new build homeowners moving into properties under the scheme. The scheme is part of Virgin Media’s £3bn Project Lightning network expansion that will see its network reach 17 million UK premises by 2019.

Stewart Baseley, Executive Chairman of the HBF, said:

“The buyers of new homes understandably have very high expectations of the property they move in to, and house builders strive to meet and surpass those expectations. With connectivity now vital to the way we live our lives, being able to equip today’s modern, high quality housing with 21st Century connectivity is a key consideration for builders.

“Housing delivery is growing exponentially as we seek to tackle the country’s housing crisis meaning more and more households will be living in new homes. Competition between network builders will help to ensure more homeowners can enjoy all of the benefits of the digital age, helping to make new build even more attractive to homebuyers”.

Paul Buttery, Chief Operating Officer at Virgin Media, said: “By partnering with Virgin Media, developers can build 21st Century homes, equipped with the most modern broadband infrastructure delivering the fastest speeds. With our network growing at a faster pace than ever, the more demand we get from developers, the more we can do to support them.”

As part of the agreement, Virgin Media will provide developers with all the equipment to connect homes to its network and offer a rebate scheme to cover any costs of the work. The company will also offer a dedicated manager for each site.

Virgin Media’s dedicated, ultrafast network delivers the fastest widely available broadband speeds to homes and businesses in the UK. Available to 13 million homes and premises the network is being rapidly expanded to reach 4 million more premises, 25% of which will be connected by Fibre To The Premise technology.

The Home Builders Federation (HBF) is the representative body of the home building industry in England and Wales. The HBF’s member firms account for some 80% of all new homes built in England and Wales in any one year, and include companies of all sizes, ranging from multi-national, household names through regionally based businesses to small local companies: www.hbf.co.uk

About Virgin Media

Virgin Media offers four multi award-winning services across the UK and Ireland: broadband, TV, mobile phone and landline.

The company’s dedicated, ultrafast network delivers the fastest widely available broadband speeds to homes and businesses. We’re expanding this through our £3bn Project Lightning programme, which will reach 17 million premises by the end of 2019.

Our interactive TV service brings live programmes, thousands of hours of on-demand programming and the best apps and games in a set-top box, as well as on-the-go for tablets and smartphones.

We launched the world’s first virtual mobile network, offering fantastic value and services. We are also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the UK and Ireland.

Through Virgin Media Business, we support entrepreneurs, businesses and the public sector, delivering the fastest speeds and tailor-made services.

Virgin Media is part of Liberty Global, the world’s largest international cable company, with operations in more than 30 countries.