Virgin Media O2 inks deals with Ericsson, Nokia to upgrade UK network

(Alliance News) - Virgin Media O2 on Wednesday announced multi-year agreements with Ericsson and Nokia Corp to improve its UK mobile network.

Virgin is a 50-50 joint venture between Denver, Colorado-based communications services group Liberty Global Ltd and Madrid-based telecommunications group Telefonica SA. The JV operates out of Reading, England and serves almost 46 million customers.

Under the agreements, worth "hundreds of millions of pounds", the firms will work to enhance Virgin's 4G and 5G+ services for UK customers.

"Our Mobile Transformation Plan is delivering a step-change in network performance for our customers," said Jeanie York, chief technology officer at Virgin. "These new long-term agreements with Ericsson and Nokia are a major milestone in that journey, helping us to significantly boost capacity, improve coverage and enhance reliability right across the UK."

Virgin, which recently acquired GBP343 million worth of spectrum from Vodafone UK, is already making upgrades across the country, with an emphasis on "improving connectivity in high-demand locations such as transport hubs, stadiums and city centres, as well as along major roads and railways."

The Mobile Transformation Plan will also see the deployment of AI software and more energy-efficient equipment.

"Demand for mobile data continues to grow at pace," said York, adding: "We are focused on investing in the infrastructure needed to deliver a fast, more resilient network that can keep up with customers' expectations."

Liberty closed up 3.7% at USD14.00 in New York on Tuesday. Telefonica ended up 0.5% at EUR3.90 in Madrid. Nokia closed up 7.3% at EUR8.02 in Helsinki. Ericsson rose 1.8% to kr110.95 in Stockholm.

By John Robaina, Alliance News reporter

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