Last month, we reported that Virgin Media (VMO2) has started trials in three cities to test their use of XGS-PON in the UK to upgrade their existing hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) network area and fiber to the premise (FTTP) broadband The planning technique (here). The good news is that we now know the names of these three locations.

Currently, approximately 14.3 million locations of Virgin Media in the UK are covered by its older HFC infrastructure, while slightly more than 1 million have access to its latest FTTP network. But as we first reported in July 2021, VMO2 plans to use XGS-PON technology (here) to upgrade these HFC areas to symmetrical speed FTTP broadband before the end of 2028.

By using the company's existing full-pipe network (i.e., pipes that can lay optical cables), it is estimated that the delivery cost for each pass is approximately £100. But this does not include the usual final drop in installation costs (after you place an order), which we believe may be worth from £50 to £100.

However, before this, VMO2 decided to test 50,000 households, and we have just been able to confirm that the test is currently being conducted in three locations: Stoke, Salisbury, and Wakefield. The trial seems to be progressing well, and more information should be released as part of the operator's next financial results (to be released in early 2022).

The decision to include Salisbury is interesting because the city has also been closely related to Openreach's various all-IP network transitions and FTTP deployment trials in recent years. VMO2 is likely to want to know what impact their XGS-PON deployment will have on customer dynamics and competition in these areas, and what migration challenges it may bring to existing users, and so on.

then. Salisbury is an interesting choice...

Think they might want to argue with CityFibre in one of their construction cities. Maybe that's too easy.

Salisbury is a BT pilot exchange with all optical fiber and copper wires discontinued. If VM wants to maintain market share and speed parity, is this a good starting point?

Yes, Salisbury is one of the first exchanges to adopt all-fiber optics in Openreach, and its HFC network is not very good.

Stoke City was shelved by CityFibre, but VXFiber has a lot of reports, and there will be more reports in the future. If I remember correctly, it is also a suspicious HFC network.

The Wakefield HFC network is quite shabby, surrounded by VM FTTP-Wakefield and Five Towns. The city itself received HFC not long ago, and the Five Towns have already constructed FTTP from VMO2, so the Wakefield hub site is very suitable for FTTP. Wakefield is also rarely loved by Openreach. CityFibre has not yet broken ground, and apart from some Hyperoptic buildings and an OFNL estate, there is no alternative network that has any coverage.

They want 3 different types of original network topologies and strategically significant places. Salisbury is keeping up with Openreach and Wakefield is filling FTTP donuts, all of which require significant investment in HFC to provide capacity.

When Openreach's offer is 250-350 pounds, and the alternative network's offer is higher, how will they achieve this goal at only 100 pounds per house?

OR is the average value of urban and rural, OH/UG/direct buried and old pipelines/factories. In addition, the VM fully controls the conversion. OR must keep its copper cable, FTTC, and all-fiber in parallel despite long delays. In addition, it is not clear what network design the VM will use. They already have the fiber to the main cabinet, can upgrade the speed, and because they have a power source, they can use a remote OLT. They can also choose to maintain their current products and implement XGS-PON in their customer base, and expand according to their needs until they switch.

I think the VM is in a very good position.

In addition to @meadowj's excellent answer, Virgin did not hesitate to stop building when expanding the network became difficult or expensive. In their current cable-based deployment, there are many places where no one is surrounded by virtual machines, but their small areas/streets are ignored.

It will be interesting to see how they design fiber optic networks, because the topology will be limited to some extent by existing pipelines.

Will they use the existing cabinets entirely, or will they build new cabinets and dismantle or reuse the old cabinets as 5G hubs/electric car chargers, etc.?

"Will they use the existing cabinets entirely, or will they build new cabinets and decommission them, or reuse the old cabinets as 5G hubs/electric car chargers, etc.?"

everything above. Existing cabinets will be used where there is room for equipment, and existing cabinets must be built or expanded where there is no space.

Remember, they must leave the HFC in place and nothing can be deactivated during this build.

The best decision VM has made in a long time.

Dump DocSIS and use the appropriate fiber. DocSIS 4 is costly to launch, still has worse latency than FTTP (because of the RF to optical properties), and is a proprietary technology of traditional wired networks.

Let us hope that they will gain attention as soon as possible so that as much work as possible can be completed by 2028.

It would be great if BT started using XGS-PON for residential lines. If they do not solve this problem, I will return to Virgin Media after they launch XGS-PON

why? XGS-PON does not necessarily mean providing customers with higher speeds. The biggest advantage is to save costs for ISPs through a higher split ratio.

XGS-PON provides flexibility for multiple low-level, high-level, or both. OR will implement coverage, which only depends on the cost, I believe their procurement team is already active. Their top priority is to reduce costs to win the BDUK tender and increase the overall coverage of the competitive field as soon as possible.

The pressure is on Altnets, who are paying more for their toolkits and reducing the ROI window before OR and VM reach the target coverage.

Blah Blah Blah upgraded the city, but it was obviously too expensive to fill the 39 houses they had forgotten—even though we were right by the side.

It rhymes with Ricks...​​.....

VM is not obligated to provide services to you or anyone else.

I like this username-but please don't disrespect your mother.

I'm glad they didn't-talk to people nearby they get 80mbps during peak hours-so I will wait for real fiber

Don't distract your girlfriend/mother again/the same thing is possible

If they get 80Mbps, then they either conduct a WiFi test or use a 100Mb called device. Judging from the fact that you think the VM should serve you, you have never asked any actual questions to someone on the surface.

Complaining that they didn't hide you almost every day is a strange way to show that you are happy that they did not hide you.

I don't live in the city. Guess I will rank last like Openreach

There are many market towns and villages that have more full fiber than Wakefield. The city is surrounded by towns and cities, and a lot of fiber optic construction is underway. So far, the plan for comprehensive construction is zero.

What speed will Virgin Atlantic offer through its XGS-PON? Does this mean the end of their trivial 50Mb upload?

Ben, so after viewing one of these VM "FTTP" installations using real fiber, my understanding is that it enters a magic box, then converts it to a coaxial cable, and then directly enters the back of the super hub 4.

This means that even if it is a 10Gb fiber optic cable that enters a customer's home, you will still be subject to DOCSIS restrictions. If anyone knew better, I would be happy to be corrected there. But to me, it seems a bit pointless to install a symmetrical 10G link unless they come up with a better solution than converting it all back to a regular cable modem.

Therefore, I think VM may be the only one who installs XGS-PON and cannot actually execute part S.

"If someone knew better, I would be happy to be corrected there."

Of course. Currently using this fiber is RFoG-Radio Frequency on Glass. XGSPON will run on the same fiber, but terminate on different equipment of the customer.

There is no DoCSIS involvement at all.

But the equipment they use is a dedicated FTTPn (the DOCSIS axis node is in the house, not 1-3 blocks away, so it is no longer shared) TV and broadband equipment are standard DOCSIS 3.0/3.1 cable/broadband cable modems

So it is still a valid question whether they will still restrict uploads

Okay, thank you for correcting me. If it didn't get into the original cable modem, that would be great. I still want to know what upload is. I hardly need 500 now, but I definitely want more than 35.

The test is symmetrical, which is good.

Anyway, now I have some time to answer correctly.

"But the equipment they use is dedicated FTTPn (the DOCSIS shaft node is in the house, not 1-3 blocks away, so it is no longer shared)"

It is not a dedicated FTTP for micro nodes. It is located on a PON and is divided into 64 channels at most. The 64-way split is also merged in the OLT. The coaxial segment is no longer shared, all this happens on the optical and line cards.

'TV and broadband equipment are standard DOCSIS 3.0/3.1 cable/broadband cable modems

So it is still a valid question, they will still restrict uploads'

It has been said that they will not use DoCSIS in this XGSPON network. If they want, they can continue to provide cable TV via RF while using XGSPON to transmit data, or they can use IPTV entirely. STB no longer uses DoCSIS for 2-way services, they have a downstream RF tuner and use Ethernet/WiFi to the hub as the return path and IPTV.

There are many deployment methods, but no matter which method, what happens through RFoG has nothing to do with upstream data services. XGSPON uses different wavelengths and does not have the same limitations as RFoG.

VM superduper is real actual fiber this time.

Hi Mark, thanks for another interesting article. I saw that "the delivery cost is estimated to be around £100, but does not include the usual final drop in installation costs". Does Virgin M have any thoughts on the replacement cost of upgrading the uplink to Docsis 3.1 directly from the customer premises? Obviously it is an inferior choice of FTTP.

If the cost is between £20 and £30, such as the estimated £100 FTTC cost that is a large part of the cost, then the business decision/savings provided by Virgin M for FTTP are compelling because the customer's help to pay will eventually drop (competition allows) Coaxial cable to optical fiber upgrade service. The new installation will be taken for granted by FTTP. The theoretical/virtual cost of the FTTC that Virgin M "passes" for each premise is £100 minus the cost of the non-existent Docsis 3.1 uplink upgrade.

I am sure that Virgin M has internal data for the Docsis 3.1 uplink upgrade, but may not be willing to disclose them.

They offset the cost of upgrading to DoCSIS 4.0, Nigel instead of upstream 3.1. This will show up next year, although 100 Mbit/s is as high as I thought. Not only that, they may also need network upgrades, and they will not do anything different from usual on the coaxial network.

VMO2 sets the cost of the 4.0 upgrade at £60 per site passed. This will bring the fiber close to the home, of course, the actual installation must be done on demand.

XGSPON ONT is much cheaper than 4.0 modems, which also helps. This makes sense when you consider that they must install equipment on either side and upgrades to the field network to expand the usable spectrum of 4.0.

Sorry, Nigel, the cost of passing 4.0 for each citation of £60 – https://www.libertyglobal.com/virgin-media-o2-announces-2028-full-fiber-upgrade-plan/

Thank you very much for your informative responses and links to Virgin Mie's free global articles.

I certainly didn't realize that "XGSPON ONT is much cheaper than 4.0 modems, which also helps."

Considering Virgin Media’s market share and the scale of assets that can subscribe to its services, I’m still surprised that Virgin Media is allowed to use PIA products

This is not to say that their HFC upgrade has anything to do with PIA

I don't think Openreach can distinguish customers in this way. PIA is just another product.

I know what you are talking about, but Virgin is not just any other alternative network. KCOM is another weird one, I thought they should open their pipes and poles

The cost of building a PIA solution by KCom is considered disproportionate to the number of places that can provide services through it.

For any company that wants to use PIA there, it is also expensive to build a system for that relatively small area.

When VMO2 crosses the line and has significant market power, they will be subject to the same regulatory scrutiny. Until then, they are another alternative network.

Given the way the build is carried out, it is entirely possible that they will never pass it. Compared with the SMP applied to VMO2, it is more likely to see everyone's market liberalization.

Halifak should be chosen, because City Fiber will start fftp in January 2022 (investment of 23 million)

https://www.cityfiber.com/news/halifax-set-full-fiber-boost-cityfiber-announces-23m-town-wide-roll/

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2021/12/uncertainty-looms-over-cityfibers-build-in-halifax-and-barnsley.html

I talked to Virgin Installer a few days ago and they want to upgrade everyone to full fiber. He said that full fiber actually refers to the fiber from the cabinet to your cable router/modem, just like they currently have in Europe. So yes, you will get 3Gbs downstream and upstream by then

Not until 2028. Their current plan is to *prepare* all regions by 2028. After they have visited your area, you can order FTTP (fees apply).

in Europe? There are many wired networks, like virgin media/liberty global, owned by liberty global or other companies.

@Josh Welby: "I talked to a Virgin installer a few days ago. They want to upgrade everyone to full fiber. He said that full fiber actually means fiber from the cabinet to your cable router/modem. Like what they currently have in Europe, so yes, by then you will get 3Gbs downstream and upstream traffic. "The coaxial cable between the optical node and the house through the distribution cabinet will be replaced by optical fiber. I look forward to Termination at the ONT (a little different from those in the VM) used) This will enable the router to connect with the Ethernet cable. As for speed: VM will be decided based on various commercial and technical factors.

Our streetSM5 3AY) is surrounded by VMs, but they have no plans for us. I have contacted them several times, but they just said "not in the service area". I have given up hope for VM, I hope or extend their fiber network soon, even if VM wants to extend their network, I will not bother.

Your road is private, the VM must be built with the permission of each resident, and it looks very expensive to build because there is no sidewalk, they have to cross the driveway at least to walk part of the road.

You may have to wait for Openreach, which is an important requirement for others to provide you with services.

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