Broadband News

Virgin Media trials rural superfast broadband through telegraph poles

Thursday, 11 March 2010

By Seamour Rathore seamour@consumerchoices.co.uk

Rural communities with slow or no broadband could get access to Virgin Media’s (www.VirginMedia.com) 50Mb broadband delivered through local telegraph poles.

Virgin Media (www.VirginMedia.com) is trialling a ground-breaking service to bring 50Mb broadband to broadband not-spots in rural Britain.

The cable company is trialling 50Mb broadband in a Berkshire village by installing fibre optic cabling over local telegraph poles.

The villagers of Woolhampton in Berkshire will be able to trial both superfast broadband and Virgin Media’s digital TV service thanks to the overhead cabling.

The trial starts this month and will run for a period of around six months.

Neil Berkett, chief executive office at Virgin Media, said: This unique trial will allow us to understand the possibility of aerial deployment and may provide an exciting new way to extend next-generation broadband.”

BT broadband is already available in Woolhampton, but this trial would bring the option of faster speeds to the area. Virgin Media has identified more than 1 million UK homes that could benefit from a similar non-traditional way of delivering broadband, without the need for government subsidy.

In 2009 Virgin Media tested another rural broadband option in Hatt and Saltash in Cornwall. It laid underground fibre optic cable to BT’s local street cabinets.

Large-scale deployment overhead using telegraph poles will require a change in planning guidelines which the government is already considering, according to Virgin Media.

Michael Phillips, product director at Broadbandchoices.co.uk, said: “Non-traditional solutions of this type will be welcomed enthusiastically by anyone living in a rural broadband “not-spot” or “not very fast-spot”.

“It also raises an interesting issue around who will pay for rural broadband access. If cost-effective means can be found for delivering broadband to the countryside, then companies like Virgin Media will be prepared to fill certain gaps. That would mean less of the public purse would be needed to provide access for all homes in the UK.”

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