Our services played a vital role in connecting our customers to the people and things they love during the pandemic, and kept the country working, learning, informed and entertained at a time when it mattered most.
And now, as we look to the future, our purpose as a combined company has never been clearer. We’re investing to expand and upgrade our fixed and mobile networks, living up to our role as a national challenger that will accelerate growth, get the UK back on its feet and help it become a connectivity champion.
Author: Lutz Schüler, CEO
To better understand the opportunity ahead, we have worked with some of Britain’s leading economic analysts on a pioneering new way to measure digital connectivity.
Our new Digital Connectivity Index uses thousands of datapoints to measure how individuals and organisations can connect with one another and the rest of the world through high-quality internet access.
The Index, the first of its kind, assesses the quality of connectivity infrastructure across developed countries and finds the UK is currently ranked joint 8th out of 24 OECD countries publishing complete digital connectivity datasets – well into the top half of countries scored and just ahead of Germany, Portugal and Ireland.
It also reveals that upgrading mobile and broadband networks can support economic growth and help the country to level up. By becoming an international leader, in just five years the UK could boost GDP by £70 billion, unlock more than 500,000 new jobs and enable consistently higher economic growth rates every year.
However, this future is not guaranteed. To realise these benefits, we need to work across industry with the support of Government and regulators to build the digital infrastructure the UK needs.
As Virgin Media O2, we are committed to playing a leading role in helping the UK become a connected digital leader and are investing at least £10bn over the next 5 years to rollout gigabit speeds, expand our network and bring 5G to more parts of the country.
This investment will help provide those high-quality connections between people that are essential to modern life.
With a huge opportunity ahead of us, we’re focused on our goal of upgrading the UK and reimagining connectivity. Our investment is turning up the dial on the national recovery, helping the country to climb up the international connectivity league tables and creating a brighter, more prosperous future for every corner of the UK.
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