Virgin Media to connect all new Barratt Homes to ultrafast broadband

Virgin Media has partnered with the UK’s largest housebuilder, Barratt Developments, to bring the UK’s fastest widely available broadband speeds to all new Barratt homes.

Barratt Developments, which will build 15,000 homes this year in the UK, will see all of its new homes connected to Virgin Media’s ultrafast broadband network which provides speeds of up to 1,140Mbps across the UK.

Virgin Media currently offers gigabit speeds to more than 7 million homes, making it the largest gigabit broadband provider in the UK. Its entire network of 15 million homes will gain access to gigabit speeds by the end of 2021.

The agreement comes at a time when the country has never been so dependent on fast and reliable home broadband with many people relying on their connectivity to work, learn, stay entertained and connected to the people and things that matter to them.

Figures released by Virgin Media in December showed that on average, customers used 2.8GB of additional data every day last year – the equivalent of streaming three hours of Netflix – making 2020 the provider’s busiest year ever.

Homeowners can bundle other products and services from Virgin Media in with their broadband, including TV, phone and mobile, with lots of flexible deals available.

Virgin Media’s new TV service, Virgin TV 360, provides viewers with an advanced TV line-up that includes a new Mini box, new TV remote with voice control and smart new features which offer a fully integrated, voice activated and personalised service. Unlimited mobile data SIMs can also be added to all packages.

Virgin Media continues to partner with a range of UK housebuilders to connect new homes in developments across the UK. At the same time, the operator is also expanding its network to bring ultrafast connectivity to hundreds of thousands more homes each year as part of its ‘Project Lightning’ network expansion programme.   

Alongside Virgin Media, other network providers will be available on all Barratt Development sites providing Barratt homeowners with choice and flexibility with their broadband.

Rob Evans, Managing Director of Network Expansion at Virgin Media, said:

“This innovative and exciting partnership between Virgin Media and Barratt Homes will mean that new homeowners will have access to the UK’s fastest widely available broadband from day one of moving into their new home.

“Our connectivity will provide residents with the ultrafast and reliable broadband services which have never been so important to the way we live our daily lives. It is essential that all new homes have access to the fastest speeds available and we will continue to work with developers across the UK to ensure more homes are connected to such vital services.”

Steven Boyes, Chief Operating Officer at Barratt Developments, said:

“We’re really pleased to be able to offer this new unified service to our customers and Virgin Media has been integral to that.  Delivering different full fibre services on a site by site basis can sometimes cause problems for customers, so by coming together to build a unified system with Barratt it will deliver a much better service, benefitting everyone.

“Particularly now when everyone relies on fast and reliable broadband this new service will mean customers can enjoy their new home even more. A unified service with multiple providers hasn’t been delivered in the housebuilding industry before so it is testament to Virgin Media for their hard work and vision in helping making this happen. As the country’s leading housebuilder we’re proud to be offering this industry-first to our customers when they need it most.”

Notes to Editors

More information about how Virgin Media people are helping the country stay connected can be found HERE.

More information on where Virgin Media operates is available here.

About Virgin Media

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

Our network delivers the fastest widely-available broadband speeds to homes and businesses. We’re expanding this through continued investment in our Project Lightning programme, which has seen our network footprint reach an additional 2.4 million premises so far to pass 15.2 million UK premises overall. We are also investing to bring next-generation gigabit speeds to our entire broadband network by the end of 2021, with progress so far making us the UK’s largest gigabit network.

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

Virgin Mobile launched the world’s first virtual mobile network and offers fantastic value and innovative services with 4G connectivity. We are also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the UK.

Through Virgin Media Business we support entrepreneurs, businesses and the public sector, delivering a range of connectivity and tailor-made services.

Virgin Media employs around 12,000 people directly in the UK and is part of Liberty Global, one of the world’s leading converged video, broadband and communications companies. Liberty Global connects 11 million customers through operations in six countries across Europe subscribing to 25 million TV, broadband internet and telephony services. It also serves 6 million mobile subscribers.