London, 26 March 2026 — Virgin Media Business Wholesale says its multi-year network transformation programme, Project Spark, is now delivering measurable gains for wholesale partners. The company reports a 32% year-on-year reduction in Ethernet lead times and up to 40 days faster delivery for 10G services.
Project Spark is an upgrade of Virgin Media Business Wholesale's core, metro and Ethernet architecture, designed to support faster provisioning of high-bandwidth connectivity. The programme now spans 23 National High-Capacity Services (NHCS) core sites, 177 CIN-enabled metro sites, more than 200 locations with accelerated 10G delivery, and connectivity into over 160 data centres nationwide. National Ethernet and 10G DIA services have been running on the new metro architecture since July 2024, with enhanced 10G delivery covering approximately 75% of wholesale demand locations.
The infrastructure work breaks into four components. A new NHCS core layer, underpinned by Ciena optical, routing and switching technology, supports 83% of network demand across 23 sites with low-latency, high-capacity transport. A refreshed metro layer, using Ciena XR optics and Nokia routing, connects 177 sites to reduce provisioning complexity. A redesigned Ethernet architecture automates service creation across the national footprint. And a new high-capacity network core extends reach into growth areas including Slough, Manchester and regional data centre clusters.
Project Spark was never about incremental upgrades. It’s always been focused on fundamentally redesigning how we deliver high-capacity wholesale services. We are now seeing that strategy deliver real, measurable results. Faster turn-up times, stronger resilience and a platform built to support the next decade of UK connectivity growth. In a market that increasingly values operational scale and predictability, this milestone demonstrates that our investment is working.
Project Spark is setting new benchmarks in connectivity, supporting UK’s digital growth in the years to come. With Ciena’s technology powering the new National High-Capacity Services core network, Virgin Media is building a high-performance, future-ready foundation to address today’s evolving service demands.
The programme sits within a broader context of growing UK demand for 10G and 100G wholesale services, driven partly by data centre expansion beyond traditional London hubs.
