Case studies
Virgin Media Streamlining operations and cutting costs with a seamless network transition
with a seamless network transition
4 minutes
06th March 2025
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Following the merger of Virgin Media and O2 in 2021, we faced the challenged of migrating the entire Virgin Media workforce – approximately 15,000 connections – and adapt our operational infrastructure to the O2 mobile network.
Planning and executing a seamless transition on this scale required every ounce of experience and expertise from our Delivery Management team.
The challenge
The quicker the migration, the quicker we could save money for the business. But with such a big and complex migration there were a number of questions to answer first:
- Initial analysis showed 15,000 connections but how many of these were active?
- Did we have the right cost centre and people assigned to devices?
- How could we avoid any major sticking points that might prevent a smooth transfer?
- What was a realistic timeframe to move everyone over to the O2 network?
“Businesses can be just like people. Even when there’s a clear saving, we don’t always want to switch because we think there’s a risk involved. This is where planning and communication are key."
Allan Turner, Head of Customer Delivery, Virgin Media O2
A collective effort
There were two important elements to our migration of contracts from Virgin Media’s existing provider to the O2 network:
- Review our base and remove any inactive connections to reduce costs
- Engage our employees to encourage adoption and prevent risks
We started with a complete audit of all Virgin Media connections using the tried and tested Nuvoli process. This gave us a detailed analysis of the entire estate, including which of the 15,000 connections were inactive (close to 3,500 as it turned out). So we knew for sure which connections were necessary and how to prioritise them during the migration.
This took three months from beginning to end and meant we could create a detailed transition timeline, resource plan, risk mitigation strategy and overall migration approach.
While we evaluated our estate, we also developed an employee engagement strategy and communications plan. This gave us a series of step-by-step notices that explained what was happening and why..
“With any migration, it’s not just about the switchover. It’s about the planning, the engagement and how you can remove the risks that services will be disrupted.."
Joanna Watts, Delivery Director, Virgin Media O2
Advantages all round
By identifying 3,500 inactive connections and moving active users over to cheaper tariffs, we were able to reduce our total costs by a third.
Cost reductions weren’t the only advantage. Going through a massive migration like this has impacted our delivery capabilities too.
Initially, we were able to port around 1,000 connections per week. After employing the lessons we learned on our own journey, the Virgin Media O2 Business Delivery Management team is now able to port 1,000 connections per day.
So our customers benefit from tried and trusted techniques as well as proven guidance on how to reduce risks and engage users.
“Our combined teams now all share the same contract benefits from O2. Like special offers with O2 Priority and the chance to pass on these benefits to others through our Friends & Family scheme.
Plus, we now have a complete picture of our mobile requirements. We’ve stripped out all our inactive connections to reduce costs. And we’ll be saving money each year in the future because we know all our users are on the best tariffs."
Amar Treon, Procurement Director, Virgin Media O2
Want to speak to one of the team?
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