Wrexham to strike broadband and entertainment gold thanks to Virgin Media

Virgin Media today announced that it will expand its fibre optic network to 24,000 homes and businesses in Wrexham and surrounding areas by the end of 2017 as part of its £3bn Project Lightning programme.

This is the first time Virgin Media has expanded its network in Wales under Project Lightning, giving many residents and business owners a much needed connectivity and entertainment boost with access to the fastest widely-available broadband speeds.

Fibre optic cables will be connected directly to premises in Wrexham (known as fibre to the premise - FTTP) offering ultrafast, future-proof connectivity with speeds of 200Mbps for consumers and 300Mbps for businesses and home workers.  Wrexham will be the first town in North Wales to receive FTTP connectivity.

Work will start towards the end of this year beginning in the Acton Park area and will extend to Wrexham Industrial Estate, Wrexham Technology Park and also include the villages of Llay, Rossett, Coedpoeth and Gwersyllt as well as Wrexham town centre. Local residents can find out more details about when their homes will be connected by visiting virginmedia.com/cablemystreet and registering their interest.

Michelle Beech, Regional Director for Wales at Virgin Media, said: “Residents in Wrexham will soon be getting the ultrafast broadband and top-notch TV they deserve. Investing and delivering better connectivity to communities such as Wrexham shows that ultrafast broadband isn’t just for the big cities – we urge more communities to come together and register their interest. You could be next.”

Ian Lucas MP, Member of Parliament for Wrexham said: "I am absolutely delighted at Virgin Media's announcement of their investment in an entirely new broadband network in Wrexham. It is a huge vote of confidence in Wrexham and its future. This is a private sector investment of enormous significance. It will further increase Wrexham's appeal as a location for business and is a massive boost for jobs and growth. Both businesses and individual consumers will benefit.

“When I put forward the case for Virgin Broadband and Project Lightning to come to Wrexham in a Select Committee hearing to its Chief Executive, Tom Mockridge, at the end of last year, I was confident Wrexham had an excellent case for this investment in its future. I am very grateful indeed that Virgin Media has shared my enthusiasm and have worked so well with Lee Robinson and his Economic Development Team at Wrexham Council to make this happen."

Cllr Neil Rogers, Lead Member for Economic Development and Regeneration at Wrexham County Borough Council said: “We are absolutely delighted at this announcement and we are very keen to support Virgin Media’s investment which will support business growth and digital participation in Wrexham. I understand this is the first investment of this type in Wales which demonstrates the potential we have in Wrexham which has been recognised by Virgin Media.”

Ultrafast broadband up to 300 Mbps

For residents, Virgin Media’s Vivid 200 broadband offers the fastest widely available broadband – with download speeds of up to 200Mbps. This is more than two and a half times faster than the top widely available speeds from BT, TalkTalk and Sky meaning that a whole household can stream movies, music and more all at the same time.

For businesses, Virgin Media Business now offers ultrafast connectivity, with speeds of up to 300Mbps – almost four times faster than its main competitors’ widely available top speeds. This enables businesses to reach their potential by delivering better services and greater capacity.

Plus, the latest entertainment with up to 260 TV channels, including 66 HD channels as well as access to Sky Sports, Sky Movies and BT Sport, and an extensive TV on demand library of exclusive shows, box sets and movies.

New, faster build method

This FTTP expansion uses an innovative way of bringing ultrafast broadband to people’s homes with minimal disruption. The approach, called narrow-trenching, reduces the width of the trench used to lay optical fibre cables from around 40cm to just 10cm and enables engineers to cover up to 100m in a day, making it more than twice as fast as current methods. Wrexham residents will receive the very latest broadband technology with fibre delivered direct to the home.

Virgin Media recently pledged to provide FTTP to at least one in four properties in its Project Lightning expansion.

Project Lightning

By the end of 2019 Virgin Media has committed to increase connectivity across the UK, expanding its optical fibre network to 4 million more homes and businesses.