Virgin Media O2 nexfibre available to 19,000 in Brentwood

Deja-vu as there was confusion on a previous Virgin Media O2 roll-out announcement around whether its premises or residents that are the counting criteria. This time it is Brentwood, Essex which is an area of around 26,216 properties, so clarity on if its properties or people is important in understanding the scale of the achievement.

• Full-fibre broadband with average top speeds of 1,130Mbps now available to more than 19,000 additional homes and businesses in Brentwood for the first-time, following nexfibre investment
• Alex Burghart MP welcomes the investment, as 19,000 residents can now benefit from broadband up to 20 times faster* than the local average
• Services are now available in Brentwood thanks to recent investment by nexfibre, Virgin Media O2’s partner, to expand its full-fibre wholesale network in the area

VIrgin Media O2 talking of 19,000 residents and 19,000 homes and businesses

Map with nexfibre XGS-PON full-fibre footprint in Brentword, Essex sold by VIrgin Media O2

More than 19,000 homes and businesses in Brentwood can now feel the benefit of Virgin Media’s services – with packages that include everything from next generation gigabit broadband to easy-to-use TV streaming and entertainment services.

These ultrareliable full fibre to the home broadband connections come with speeds up to 20 times faster than local average – providing local people with total peace of mind that whatever they’re doing online, their connection won’t slow them down.

Julie Agnew, Managing Director of Fixed Network Expansion at Virgin Media O2

As of the morning of 13th December we had counted 9,728 premises (homes and business premises) covered by nexfibre XGS-PON and there is additional coverage around Kilworth Avenue, Shenfield to appear on the maps and checkers for Thursday morning. There are also other addresses flagging up as on the way. So a long way short of 19,000 premises, but almost exactly 19,000 residents. In other nexfibre releases, they have sometimes included over nearby locations, which would be Billericay and adding that to the maths we get 20,230 premises passed.

In terms of benefit to Brentwood, it is the case that nexfibre are actually late to the party due to other full-fibre networks already available. So looking at just Brentwood:

• 4,801 premises do not have access to any full-fibre services out of 26,216 premises.
• nexfibre is the sole full-fibre option for 1,165 premises.
• 8,406 premises are covered by one full-fibre network, including the 1,165 nexfibre ones.
• 8,380 premises have two different full-fibre networks available to them
• 4,629 premises have three different full-fibre networks available to them

So while I will spend some of my evening looking for more nexfibre in Brentwood, I am not expecting to find another 10,000 premises passed by nexfibre. Would be nice to be wrong, and Virgin Media O2 actualy be available today to almost 75% of the town.

Update 14th December 2023: The number of nexfibre premises we’ve mapped in Brentwood has now risen to 11,306 premises. The number of premises where nexfibre is the sole full-fibre option increased from 1,165 premises to 1,285.