Virgin Media to launch Wi-Fi network?

published 24 November 2010

Virgin Media is considering launching its very own Wi-Fi network in an attempt to take on its biggest rival.

Various reports have claimed the company wants to move into the Wi-Fi space and try to beat BT's OpenZone offering, although plans have yet to be set in stone.

A spokesperson told the BBC: "We are looking at way to converge data services. 3G networks are reaching a capacity crunch and Wi-Fi could offload traffic and offer a vastly superior overall throughput."

The spokesperson admitted building the network would be a "massive undertaking" but having an alternative to 3G could be a good move.

Virgin Media has been investing heavily into its broadband infrastructure over the past year.

Back in February, it made 100Mbps connections available to the 12.6 million homes on its network, and it has also begun trials for 200Mbps connections in Kent.

We contacted Virgin Media to confirm the Wi-Fi plans but it had not responded to our request for comment at the time of publication.

Watch our video interview with Mark Heraghty, head of Virgin Media Business, here.

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.