Virgin Media and Surf Telecoms to Trial Ultrafast Broadband over Electricity Poles

Virgin Media today announced that residents of the Welsh village of Crumlin, Caerphilly, will be the first in the UK to trial ultrafast broadband delivered over existing electricity poles. Following a landmark agreement with Surf Telecoms, a Western Power Distribution company, homes in the village of Crumlin will be connected directly to Virgin Media’s fibre optic network, effectively increasing local broadband speeds ten-fold* in a community that has previously relied on BT’s copper infrastructure. As well as 50Mb broadband, villagers will be offered Virgin Media's TV service, including around 5,000 hours of catch up TV and on demand content. The trial will start next month and is scheduled to run into 2011.

The agreement with Surf Telecoms marks the first use of existing commercial infrastructure to aerially deliver ultrafast broadband to a community currently beyond the reach of a fibre optic network. Virgin Media began trialling aerial deployment in the Berkshire village of Woolhampton in March this year using purpose-built infrastructure.

The trials are part of Virgin Media’s efforts to expand its network and identify ways of bringing next generation digital services to people who live in rural or harder to reach areas of the UK. Initial analysis suggests that ‘non-traditional’ approaches of the kind being explored in Crumlin and Woolhampton could, with some focused measures from government, significantly accelerate delivery of next generation broadband to millions of extra homes right across the UK**.

Jon James, executive director of broadband, Virgin Media, said: "We’re already bringing broadband speeds of up to 50Mb and, soon 100Mb, to over half of all UK homes and are pushing the boundaries to ensure that homes right across the UK benefit from ultrafast broadband. Working in partnership with companies like Surf Telecoms, we can more rapidly and efficiently expand the reach of fibre optic networks to towns, villages and communities right across the UK.”

Richard Doble, Design and Policy Manager, Surf Telecoms, said: "Western Power Distribution’s electricity infrastructure reaches over 2.5 million homes across South West England and South and West Wales and, with this trial, we’re exploring an innovative new approach that could bring ultrafast broadband to many customers for the first time. The possibilities of aerial deployment promise a valuable use of existing infrastructure and an interesting new commercial opportunity for utility companies. We’re pleased to be at the forefront of this innovation.”

Virgin Media has previously announced plans to extend its cable infrastructure, which today passes more than half of all UK households with speeds of 10Mb, 20Mb, 50Mb and, soon 100Mb, to 500,000 new build homes.

For more information on Virgin Media products and services visit www.virginmedia.com.

Notes to editors

* The average actual broadband speed is 5.2Mb according to Ofcom’s 2010 broadband speeds research.

**Virgin Media believes small changes to the regulatory environment, such as the streamlining of duplicated planning processes, a more transparent way of calculating wayleave payments, access to BT poles and ducts, and clarification of the Electronic Communications Code, aerial deployment could significantly improve the viability of delivering next generation digital services to rural communities across the UK.

On 15 July 2010, the Government published a discussion paper looking at barriers to the deployment of superfast broadband in rural areas of the UK. Over the past two years, Virgin Media has run a number of trials aiming to provide valuable insight into the technical, operational and commercial viability of delivering superfast speeds in rural areas. In 2009, Virgin Media launched a trial in Cornwall which brought next generation services to the villages of Hatt and Saltash by running fibre optic cable underground to BT’s local street cabinets. In March 2010, Virgin Media launched a trial in Woolhampton, Berkshire to test the technical feasibility of aerially delivering next generation broadband services across telegraph poles.

About Virgin Media

With almost 10 million customers, Virgin Media is the UK's first quad-play provider of broadband, TV, phone and mobile.

The company is one of the largest residential broadband providers in the UK, using a unique fibre optic cable network to deliver next generation ultrafast internet access of up to 50Mb to just over half of all homes. Combined with a high speed ADSL service and mobile broadband products, Virgin Media is able to offer broadband internet access to virtually the entire country.

Virgin Media has the UK’s most advanced TV on demand service and was the first TV platform to carry BBC iPlayer. It is the second largest provider of pay TV, was the first to launch a high definition TV service and offers a high-specification, HD-ready V+ personal video recorder.

The company operates the most popular virtual mobile network in the UK which, when launched, was the world’s first such mobile phone service. It is also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the country.

Virgin Media Inc. is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market and the London Stock Exchange (VMED).

About Surf Telecoms

Western Power Distribution group company, Surf telecoms is an established, utility backed telecommunications infrastructure provider.

Much of the Surf telecoms’ fibre optic network is installed upon the electricity distribution infrastructure of Western Power Distribution, which serves 2.6 million customers across South Wales and the South West of England.

Surf telecoms provides quality, high capacity core telecommunications infrastructure and services to communications service providers, broadband ISP’s , broadcasters, communications intensive businesses, utilities, corporate sector business and key public sector services including education and health.