Virgin team up with Upp

[kalbasit]

I have been waiting to join upp for almost 2 years. Met their CEO at an event in my town he said that I should have access to their broadband by the end of June its November now. Upp have joined with Virgin so do I still wait or end my hopes?

[DPJ]

I registered my interest with UPP.  Their website now states the following - Since Upp is now part of Virgin Media O2, you can find superfast speeds and loads of great deals to choose from withVirgin Media. Our Upp broadband is no longer available to new customers, but thank you for your interest. I've started looking elsewhere for another company to move to when my current contract ends in April 24.

[Roger_Gooner]

It's going to take VM about a year to fully integrate Upp's network into their XGS-PON. If the Upp network passes your property then you should get VM services by autumn 2024 at the latest.

[Portery]

Nexfibre has acquired upp not virgin media . Virgin media are the anchor tenant on the nexfibre network.   All virgin media are doing is to help nexfibre with the  initial integration work.  

[Roger_Gooner]

nexfibre and VM are owned by the same companies and nexfibre is effectively building the network for VM which is acting as both construction partner and anchor tenant. The reason why nexfibre gets its network on sale so quickly is because it's built close to VM's XGS-PON and gets connected to it.

As for Upp: VMO2 initially purchased Upp in an all-cash and will carry out integration work, thus paving the way for nexfibre to fund the acquisition through a back-to-back agreement to buy Upp’s network assets in 2024.

[whatsUPP]

UPP still to this week have been installing infrastructure in and around Stamford. 

Annoying this buyout has happened when it did as I wanted to sign up with UPP.

UPP web site states that current customers can cancel UPP and change to a Virgin/O2 package. Any live UPP postcode areas however say no go on Virgins availability checker. 

My current contract runs out end of March so I hope things change. 

[Roger_Gooner]

If VMO2 had not bought Upp then the probability is that Upp, with a mere 4,000 customers despite a network covering 175,000 premises, would have gone bust. This network now has a secure future and integration into VM's XGS-PON should be complete by autumn 2024. If you are in an Upp network area you should be able to become a VM customer by next year.

[whatsUPP]

I’m hoping orders can be placed sooner rather than later in VM/O2 ex UPP areas.

The drop poles in my village have, in most cases, had UPP CBTs installed in the past month (the underground cabling status is unknown), it seems odd to let these sit dormant for nearly a year when VM/O2 could poach Openreach based customers.

Openreach FTTC arrived in my village in 2011 with ECI cabs, no FTTP so far.

[Roger_Gooner]

No it's not lying dormant, all fibre has to be terminated back to a VM VHUB via aggregation, and if a new VHUB has to be installed it will need to be connected to the hubsite as well. This isn't a trivial migration and so will take the best part of a year to complete.