The latest Q4 2024 results from Virgin Media and O2 have been published, which saw their fixed broadband base grow by +12,000 in the quarter (vs 16.2k in Q3) to total 5,738,900. The provider’s full fibre (FTTP) network also built to another 485,500 premises, primarily via nexfibre (up from 281k in Q3), while mobile connections grew to total 45.7 million.
The combined Virgin Media and nexfibre fixed broadband network now reaches a total of 18,255,600 Homes Serviceable (up from 17,770,100 in Q3) across the UK and the vast majority of that new build is from nexfibre. The nexfibre network alone now accounts for over 2 million UK premises passed of this total.
The results reveal that a total of around 6.4 million Virgin Media and nexfibre premises (footprint) are now covered by full fibre FTTP lines (XGS-PON and RFOG), which is up from 5.3m in Q3 2024. But this also factors in Virgin’s ongoing upgrade of existing Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) areas to FTTP under Project Mustang (i.e. aiming to convert all of Virgin’s existing HFC and RFOG lines to XGS-PON by 2028).
In addition, the c.175,000 premises passed by Upp, which was previously acquired by nexfibre, also appear to have been largely included into the latest quarterly build total as VMO2’s results highlight the “successful integration of the altnet“. Finally, a tiny portion of the nexfibre figures below will include a bit of infill build for Virgin Media itself (e.g. usually taking place on existing new build homes sites).
Nexfibre Rollout Progress
Q4 2024 = 485,500 Premises
Q3 2024 = 281,100 Premises
Q2 2024 = 295,300 Premises
Q1 2024 = 194,000 Premises
Q4 2023 = c.299,000 Premises
Q3 2023 = 250,800 Premises
Q2 2023 = 175,500 Premises
Q1 2023 = 107,800 Premises
Q4 2022 = 24,000 Premises
Just for context. Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners established a new £4.5bn joint venture called nexfibre in 2022 (here), which aims to deploy an open access full fibre (FTTP) network to reach “up to” 7 million UK homes (starting with 5m by 2026) in areas NOT served by Virgin Media’s own network of 16m+ premises. But Virgin Media, which shares some of the same parentage, is currently the only major ISP on this network (here).
Elsewhere, Virgin Media has long stopped giving any solid figures for their Pay TV (video) base, which often happens when a base is in decline.
VMO2 Q4 2024 UK Customer (Connection) Figures
5,738,900 Fixed Broadband – (up from 5,726,900 in Q3)
45,700,700 Mobile inc. Wholesale – (up from 45,412,100)
The latest results also state that outdoor 5G mobile coverage is now available to 75% of the UK population (up strongly from 68% in Q3 and 65% in Q2) and we note that their mobile base has returned to growth in Q4 too (it declined a bit in Q3). On the financial front, VMO2 reported total revenue of £2,716.2m in Q4 2024, which is up from £2,701.8m last quarter.
Lutz Schüler, CEO of VMO2, said:
“We said 2024 was a year of investing to support our long-term growth and these results reflect that. We close the first chapter of Virgin Media O2 having delivered our full year guidance and hitting our JV synergy targets 18 months ahead of schedule, meaning we are well set for the future.
We ended the year with another quarter of fixed customer and ARPU growth, positive mobile contract additions and improved customer satisfaction through a relentless focus on customer experience.
Our investments of more than £2 billion across the year helped us to significantly boost our 5G coverage, improve mobile network quality and enhance rural connectivity. We also expanded our fibre footprint faster than ever as we build on our existing gigabit leadership and push ahead with creating the biggest fibre challenger in the UK along with nexfibre.
In 2024 we laid the foundations for future success, and in 2025 we will get back to growth in core revenues and profitability while continuing investment in our networks and services. Throughout the year we’ll also deliver on key strategic moves, including the creation of a fixed NetCo and the expected acquisition of spectrum from Vodafone-Three which will further improve mobile performance. This is the start of a new chapter for Virgin Media O2.”
Sadly, the latest results didn’t include much in the way of any useful updates on Virgin Media’s plans for opening their existing fixed broadband network up to wholesale via their new NetCo in the first half of 2025, but they did state that this was “on track” to “support the long-term underpinning of fibre upgrade activity and take up“.
However, recent media reports have suggested that VMO2 may have made progress on their efforts to raise an additional £1bn to support the NetCo project (here), which is understood to have recently received several non-binding offers from investors (potentially including BlackRock and CPP Investments etc.). The effort would hand investors up to a 40% stake in the planned NetCo business.
The big challenge for such a NetCo will be to attract any significant ISP support, at least beyond those already owned by the likes of Liberty Global or Telefónica (i.e. O2, Virgin Media, Giffgaff). Potential ISP partners will be looking to be treated fairly (wholesale agreements), which is always a tricky thing to balance vs the desire by some for exclusivity agreements.
The NetCo must at the same time be competitive with the dedicated wholesale platforms from larger providers like CityFibre and the regulated Openreach, while also making what they build as easy to harness as possible. One potential issue here is that Virgin Media’s own retail broadband pricing, particularly its post contract pricing, is still relatively high compared to a lot of other FTTP providers. The NetCo will need to be more competitive than that, which could be a hard thing to balance.