Virgin Media's superfast broadband network heads to Leeds
After breaking ground in its first UK city last month, Virgin Media has chosen its the next location for its £3 billion broadband expansion: Leeds. The company confirmed today that it's investing £40 million to deliver superfast broadband, TV and landline services to 80,000 homes and businesses in and around the city. Virgin Media says that people living in Middleton (around 11,000 homes) will be the first to receive 152Mbps broadband, but will then prioritise its rollout based on demand for its services.
Once work in Manchester and Leeds is completed, Virgin Media can connect almost a quarter of a million new customers to its network. Through Openreach, BT already covers 80 percent of the UK with fibre connections, so the cable provider definitely has its work cut out. That said, with help from parent company Liberty Global, "Project Lightning" will boost its reach by around a third and bring its services to four million more British homes and businesses by 2020.
