O2 could be bringing back its broadband plans after a more than decade-long hiatus.
A sharp-eyed reader over at broadband-centric blog ISPreview stumbled upon a hidden page on the O2 website, showing three (as-yet unannounced) full-fibre broadband packages under the "O2 Broadband" name.
O2 retired its broadband business back in 2013, when it sold its entire UK broadband and landline division to Sky. By 2014, all former O2 Home Broadband and Be Unlimited — which O2 also previously owned — customers had transitioned over to Sky Broadband packages. The latter still operates today.
The packages listed on the O2 Broadband page referenced three different tiers:
- Classic 500 Full Fibre at £10 per month
- Plus 1000 Full Fibre for £15 per month
- Ultimate 2000 Full Fibre at £20 per month
All of these are available on 12-month contracts, which is shorter than most broadband suppliers offer.
The packages listed were Classic 500 Full Fibre at £10 monthly, Plus 1000 Full Fibre for £15, and Ultimate 2000 Full Fibre at £20 – all on 12-month contracts
|That's a good deal. In fact, it's a suspiciously good deal, with monthly pricing closer to what you'd expect from a trial product than a serious commercial launch to take on the likes of BT, Sky, and TalkTalk. Parts of the page were also said not to work properly, with the "Choose this package" button leading nowhere.
The page vanished pretty quickly once the folks at ISPreview started to ask questions about the new broadband plans and the pricing, now redirecting visitors to information about Virgin Media's Volt bundles instead. Virgin Media completed its £31 billion merger with O2 back in June 2021, so it makes sense for a mysterious O2 broadband page to redirect to the latest offering from Virgin Media.
When asked about the discovery, a spokesperson for Virgin Media O2 told ISPreview: "The page you've seen doesn't reflect a commercial proposition; we regularly test and explore new products and features as part of ongoing development work. We'll keep you updated if we have anything to share."
While they're not saying yes ...it's interesting that Virgin Media isn't saying no.
Virgin Media and O2's parent company Telefonica agreed to merge their UK operations in a 50-50 joint venture in 2020
| VIRGIN MEDIA O2 PRESS OFFICEIf O2 does eventually launch its own broadband service, it would mark quite a shift in how VMO2 handles its brands. It also raises questions about what happens to those existing Volt bundles, which are converged packages that combine Virgin Media broadband and O2 Pay Monthly mobile into one connected household.
These bundles also reward customers by automatically boosting broadband speeds, doubling O2 mobile data, and unlocking global roaming and entertainment perks at no extra cost.
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Sky snapped up O2's broadband and phone business for around £180 million.
At the time of the sale, O2 had roughly 560,000 broadband customers, though that was already down from a peak of 671,000 in 2010. Virgin Media and O2's parent company Telefonica agreed to merge their UK operations in a 50-50 joint venture in 2020. This created VMO2, and the two brands, which is what led to the combined Volt package offering, but O2 never launched its own standalone broadband products.