THOUSANDS of York residents are set to benefit after Virgin Media has announced it has connected more than 1,500 additional homes to its ultrafast network.

As part of its ‘Project Lightning’ network expansion programme, the firm is expanding its network to bring ultrafast broadband, TV and phone services to more residents and small businesses.

As a result of this investment, even more homes in Rawcliffe are now able to benefit from Virgin Media’s services, including Gig1 which offers top speeds of 1,130Mbps - which is perfect for busy households working remotely, streaming TV shows and films, video calling friends and family and playing games online.

Councillor Nigel Ayre, executive member for finance and performance at City of York Council, said: "We are proud to have been seen as the UK’s first gigabit city and it is pleasing to see the continuing investment that is being made so that even more of the city able to access gigabit speeds. We are working hard to make sure that every area of the city is connected to the fastest speeds possible.”

Virgin Media O2 became the only major broadband provider to have rolled out next-generation gigabit services to its entire network of more than 15 million premises in December 2021.