Virgin Media expands Project Lightning and offers record speeds

Thousands of households in Scotland are this week welcoming news from Virgin Media that they will have access to ultrafast broadband.

The provider has announced an expansion of its Project Lightning, which has already seen more than 100,000 Scottish homes connected to ultrafast broadband since its inception in 2016. Now, homes and businesses in Joppa, Jordanhill, Kilbirnie, Bonnyrigg and Bathgate, among others, will also be offered the service.

Project Lightning involves connecting homes to full fibre networks. The UK government has upped its support for such projects, by offering to increase funding to help millions more properties become connected. Virgin Media intends to reach some 17 million homes with Project Lightning by 2020.

MSP Fergus Ewing, stated that the plans from Virgin Media were to be welcomed and that the expansion was part of the Scottish government’s plans to improve connectivity in Scotland over the coming years. He explained: “By focusing our £600 million investment in Scotland’s rural areas, while creating the right environment to encourage the likes of Virgin Media to invest in our urban areas, we are ensuring that we meet our commitment to deliver 100 per cent superfast broadband access across Scotland by the end of 2021.”

Meanwhile, Virgin Media has also announced that it will be rolling out broadband speeds of 350Mb to its UK customers who are already receiving 300Mb speeds. The service is available through its VIVID 350 package and makes Virgin Media the fastest broadband provider in the UK.

The company’s executive director for connectivity, Anthony Vollmer, said: "We've always been proud of our network's speed and for good reason. Our lines bring blazingly fast download speeds which are leagues ahead of those our customers could find elsewhere. We have been the speed leader since 2007: We intend to remain at the front of the pack."