On October 2, Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) switched on the first Giga Site in the UK’s capital center with the new London spectrum from Vodafone, boosting 5G performance with increased speeds, higher capacity, better coverage, using the dual-band Massive MIMO site.
This launch highlights the future phase of 5G expansion in the UK, combining technological innovation with digital infrastructure investment to meet rising demand for fast and reliable connectivity.
VMO2 will deploy 1,000 similar sites nationwide, a major boost for customers and showing the benefits of urban connection solutions for city center communities.
5G Evolution on the Path to 6G
The new London Giga site use Nokia’s dual-ban Massive MIMO (massive input, massive output) technology – a type of 5G radio technology that combines two frequency bands in a single antenna unit – stacking low, mid, and high-band spectrum onto a single mast. Low band provides wide coverage, mid band provides capacity, and high band provides very fast speeds.
The site holds a capacity for more than 10Gbps, enough for streaming 2,000 synchronized HD streams.
“The switch on of our first Giga Site here in central London is an important demonstration of how we are investing and innovating to continue improving our mobile network and customer experience. These new sites will deliver faster speeds, greater capacity, and more reliable connections for our customers,” said Dr Robert Joyce, Director of Mobile Access Engineering at O2.
Virgin Media O2 acquired 78.8 MHz of Vodafone’s spectrum for $432 million (£343 million), which brought its total UK spectrum holdings to around 30%. The operator will deploy the London spectrum nationwide over time for network densification and increase signal strength in urban areas.
“Our partnership with Virgin Media O2 to implement Giga Sites reflects our commitment to helping our customers differentiate with superior performance,” added Mark Atkinson, Head of Radio Access Networks at Nokia showcasing advances in teletraffic engineering.
The rollout with London Spectrum also addresses strategic measures in spectrum conservative allocation fund, with the goal of letting mobile operators make effective utilization of resources in a bid to expand services.
The upgrade leads to building UK telecom infrastructure solutions that facilitate and support the next generation connectivity.
UK’s Integrated Telecom Infrastructure Market
Broadband comparison firm Broadband Genie reports Virgin Media will raise new customer prices by $5 (£4) starting October 2nd, to a maximum of 15% for some consumers. On the previous rules – based on inflation – price increases would have been limited to up to 8.5%.
“Consumers are being squeezed harder than ever. The only way to protect customers is to outright ban these absurd mid-contract price hikes,” said Peter Ames, Broadband Expert at Broadband Genie.
Price transparency is emphasized by Ofcom. Cristina Luna-Esteban, Director of Consumers and Retail Markets mentioned that their protections ensure consumers can shop around with confidence,
“No prices are changing now, and no changes are being made to existing customer contracts,” according to a Virgin Media spokesperson.
It follows a broader Ofcom integration, in which it found that six in ten broadband and mobile customers were on inflation-linked rise contracts, lots of whom struggled to understand how the fees worked. The regulator has therefore ensured that, from 17 January 2025, any in-contract price rises must be easily and clearly set out at the point of sale.
Certain telcos, including BT (FKA British Telecom) and Vodafone, have already adopted their policies. Ofcom argues this action will make individuals exactly know what they will be paying, increase telecom network infrastructure trust.
Therefore, this will allow the UK telecom market to balance consumer protection and ongoing infrastructure telecom upgrades that demand high investments.
In the meantime, it highlights the importance of urban connection in keeping cities linked as network costs and customer bills are rising.
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