A group backed by British billionaire Richard Branson will start selling fiber broadband service in Italy under the Virgin brand using Open Fiber SpA’s network.
(Bloomberg) — A group backed by British billionaire Richard Branson will start selling fiber broadband service in Italy under the Virgin brand using Open Fiber SpA’s network.
Virgin Fibra is backed by Virgin Group, former Sky Italia and Virgin Media UK boss, Tom Mockridge, and other Italian investors, the company said in a statement Monday, confirming an earlier Bloomberg report. Milan-based Virgin Fibra is available to customers served by Open Fiber’s fiber-to-the-home network.
“Like everywhere in Europe and fundamentally around the world, Italy is going through this once-in-a-century transformation between the old copper network going away and being replaced by the fiber network,” Virgin Fibra Chief Executive Officer Mockridge said in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday.
Virgin Fibra’s core service will be broadband internet access, but Mockridge said he sees opportunities in bundling that with streaming and gaming services in the coming years. It’s not entering the mobile business, he added.
The Virgin brand is known in Italy already through its use in gyms, a radio franchise and cruise line venture.
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