Virgin Media brings superfast broadband to 5,000 more Glasgow homes

• Broadband eight times faster than UK average to boost Glasgow’s digital future

• Significant expansion across Cumbernauld, Duntocher, Barrhead and Uddingston
• Virgin Media delivering Commonwealth Games legacy by helping close the city’s digital divide

Virgin Media today announced it is expanding its network to 5,000 more homes across Glasgow, providing internet access at speeds up to 152Mb or eight times faster than the national average .

Work is underway to connect more households in Cumbernauld, Duntocher, Barrhead and Uddingston and is expected to be complete by the end of November.

The expansion will see the UK’s fastest widely available broadband, twice as fast as BT, Sky or TalkTalk, as well as the Company’s unrivalled TV service, Virgin Media TiVo®, made available to more people across Glasgow.

Tom Mockridge, Virgin Media’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “Extending our network across the region means thousands more families will benefit from the UK’s fastest widely available broadband for the first time. We are proud to be supercharging Glasgow, helping build an exciting digital future for the city.”

Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council, which helped facilitate the roll out of new network in the city, said: “We want everyone to be included in the digital age, whether that’s young people looking to be the next Bill Gates, developers of video games, or older people getting online to communicate with friends and family, no-one should be left behind. I’m delighted that Virgin Media is investing in the city’s digital future and bringing superfast broadband to more homes in Glasgow.”

Investing in Glasgow’s digital future

The network expansion follows Virgin Media’s pledge to help close Glasgow’s digital skills gap as part of its legacy as proud partner of the Commonwealth Games this summer.

In partnership with Digital Glasgow and Glasgow Life, Virgin Media is creating a new team of 50 digital coaches to deliver sport-inspired digital skills to over 1,500 hard-to-reach people across the city using the latest tablet computers and newly developed training materials.

To boost digital skills and innovation amongst young people in Glasgow, Virgin Media created the fully-equipped ‘Digital Making Space’ at The Mitchell Library, where young people can learn how to create their own motion-controlled video games at coding clubs hosted by CoderDojo Scotland.

Neil Paterson, from Digital Glasgow who will be helping train the new digital coaches and helped create the Digital Making Space, said: “For many without internet access or a basic knowledge of IT skills the digital world can feel daunting. Virgin Media is helping us reach more people through our new network of sports coaches which will show more people how beneficial and fun being online can be.”

Coding clubs run by CoderDojo for children will be taking place at the Virgin Media Digital Making Space at Glasgow’s Mitchell Library on 17th November and 8th December. The sessions, which began earlier this autumn, have already been a huge success with every child who attended saying they’d like to go back for another club. For more information, or to sign up, email team@coderdojoscotland.com.

Residents who want to see if Virgin Media’s new network is coming to their street should visit virginmedia.com/comingsoon.

The Virgin Media Digital Making Space

The Virgin Media Digital Making Space is based at the Mitchell Library, and is fully equipped with laptops, tablet PCs and specialist digital making equipment. It provides free internet access to users and will be managed by Glasgow Life, Digital Glasgow and the Mitchell Library.

It provides a permanent home for coding clubs, and digital skills training sessions run by Virgin Media’s digital coaches. All digital training materials developed by Virgin Media are available online from virginmedia.com/switchedonfutures allowing anyone to become a digital coach.

Virgin Media offers four multi award-winning services across the UK and Ireland: broadband, TV, mobile phone and landline.

The company’s dedicated, ultrafast network delivers the fastest widely available broadband speeds to homes and businesses. And we’re expanding this through our £3bn Project Lightning programme, which will reach 17 million premises.

Our interactive TV service brings live programmes, thousands of hours of on-demand programming and the best apps and games in a set-top box, as well as on-the-go for tablets and smartphones.

We launched the world’s first virtual mobile network, offering fantastic value and services to customers. We are also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the UK and Ireland.

Through Virgin Media Business we support entrepreneurs, businesses and the public sector, delivering the fastest widely available broadband speeds and tailor-made services.

Virgin Media is part of Liberty Global, the world’s largest international cable company. Together Virgin Media and Liberty Global serve 27 million customers across 14 countries.