Virgin Media becomes Ireland’s largest Gigabit Broadband Provider

 

Thursday 20^th August 2020: In a significant national development, Virgin Media Ireland has today switched on Gigabit Broadband services across its entire network, bringing lightning fast internet services to people, homes and businesses in towns and cities across the country.

 

This immediate and most extensive launch of 1 Gigabit services makes Virgin Media the country’s largest gigabit broadband provider surpassing all other networks and contributing substantially to the achievement of Ireland’s digital goals for society and the economy.

 

Today’s news makes gigabit broadband – offering blisteringly fast download speeds of 1Gb - available to over 97.5% of premises across Virgin Media’s network. Thanks to significant and continued investment, almost one million homes passed by Virgin Media’s network are now gigabit enabled.

 

Virgin Media has switched on cities, towns, counties and communities to gigabit broadband where, as of today, over 50% of all occupied premises in Ireland (CSO: Occupied Premises 1.75 million) are passed by Virgin Media’s network and now have access to next-generation connectivity.

 

Commenting on this development, An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin said: “I welcome the announcement of 1 Gigabit broadband now being provided by Virgin Media. This is a very positive development for our society and economy, especially now as we are relying on so many to work from home. The investment made by Virgin Media also progresses the national ambition to provide fast and reliable broadband to all. Greater access to broadband creates a more equal society, and switching on 1 Gigabit broadband today is a step closer to that.”

 

 

Paul Higgins, Vice President of Commercial at Virgin Media, said: “We’re proudly leading the charge to make Ireland faster by offering gigabit connectivity across our footprint. No ‘roll outs’, no timeframes, just 1Gb broadband now, for everyone.

 

“We’re not announcing plans or ambitions or focusing on limited areas. Instead, from today, we’re providing lightning fast broadband connectivity across the country on our gigabit network. We’re able to do this as a result of our constant investment across many years in our infrastructure and network capacity, now totalling over €1 billion, together with the most advanced in-home customer experience.

 

“We know our customers are using their broadband more than ever before with data usage increasing by 40% since March. With our announcement today, we’re able to give customers the option of 1Gb broadband and the latest in-home technology to unlock the power of this new capability. The fastest just got faster.”

 

The power of 1Gig

With Virgin Media’s lightning gigabit connection, ultra-high definition 4K films and TV programmes, very large files and videos can be downloaded almost instantaneously, even with multiple devices using the connection simultaneously.

 

Covid-19 has accelerated moves towards digital technology, with Virgin Media research finding that consumers’ digital habits have shifted permanently in recent months. Recent research commissioned by Virgin Media indicates a widespread use of broadband to avail of online services and supports in relation to users’ wellbeing, fitness and mental health. This is borne out by metrics which show a 40% increase in data usage and a 22% increase in Wi-Fi usage across Virgin Media’s high speed residential broadband network during the period from March to June inclusive (2020).

 

Over the first 10 weeks of lockdown, Virgin Media households downloaded over 50% more data per day on average, making use of their ultrafast speeds.

 

1Gig broadband – faster speeds, new router and competitive pricing

Customers taking 1Gig will benefit from Virgin Media’s new and best ever equipped gigabit capable router – V2. The new V2 router is Virgin Media’s fastest to date and features our next generation broadband technology, known as DOCSIS 3.1 which every Virgin Media customer gets when they switch on to our 1Gig service.

 

1Gig broadband is available to new and existing customers and can be packaged with or without telephone, TV and mobile services. Priced at €85 per month on a 12 month contract, plus additional promotions will be available to celebrate the launch.

 

Virgin Media’s gigabit-capable network

Virgin Media has the largest gigabit-capable network in Ireland currently passing almost one million Giga-Ready premises. The network consists of both fibre-rich cable and fibre connected directly to the premises, both of which can provide customers with gigabit speeds. Upgrades to the network mean that Virgin Media has been able to introduce the gigabit service without needing to excavate roads and streets to install new cables.