Virgin Media O2 sits at the heart of the UK’s connectivity story, delivering broadband, mobile, fixed, and digital services to millions. But behind the scenes, the company is undertaking a huge transformation — a multi-year effort to rebuild its networks, operations, and customer experience to be fit for an AI-driven, ultra-connected future.

In a conversation with Mobile Europe, Anita Tadayon, Director of Planning, Transformation, and Performance at Virgin Media O2, unpacked the principles driving this journey. Her insights reveal what it takes to modernize legacy telecom infrastructure, what the operator’s big bets on AI look like, and how customer trust remains the North Star.

Navigating Multi-Layer Networks for UK Connectivity

Virgin Media O2 is not managing a single, monolithic network. Its engineers must maintain and modernize multiple layers: legacy 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G for mobile services; HFC for broadband; plus a next-generation XGS-PON fiber network that will support gigabit speeds well into the next decade.

This technical variety brings huge operational complexity, and makes it vital to have a realistic long-term vision. “It’s a heavy capitalized infrastructure business,” Tadayon explained. “You need a strategy that looks 10 years ahead.”

Internally, that blueprint is called the “network end-state architecture.” Tadayon admitted she finds the name misleading — “there is no true ‘end state’ in telecoms” — but it captures the point: a rolling plan that aligns network upgrades with changing business needs.

Tying Network Upgrades to Business Outcomes

The operator’s network roadmap is not just a technology wish list. Tadayon is clear: every project must directly support Virgin Media O2’s broader commercial goals — from financial efficiency to customer experience.

Running a national telecom network means billions in capital investment every year. Decisions on where to modernize, where to retire old technology, and where to double down on new assets must balance service quality, sustainability, and cost control.

Virgin Media O2’s Four Strategic Pillars for Transformation

Virgin Media O2’s transformation stands on four clear pillars: customer-first thinking, simplification, reliability and trust, and operational efficiency.

Let’s look at how each one shows up in practice.

1. Prioritizing Customer Trust and Network Security

“Customer centricity is at the heart of our network plan,” Tadayon said. This shapes every major decision — from the type of products launched (IP-only, for example) to how security requirements are built into the infrastructure.

One regulatory piece is the Telecom Security Act, which sets out tough new rules to protect telecom infrastructure. “It takes a lot of effort to implement,” Tadayon said, “but it’s really about protecting customers.” In a world of rising cyber threats, the link between network design and trust is more visible than ever.

2. Simplifying Networks and Operations Through Digitalization

Modern networks often carry decades of accumulated complexity: overlapping systems, duplicate sites, and legacy technologies that drain energy and capital. Virgin Media O2’s simplification push is addressing this head-on.

For example, the company is consolidating technical sites — retiring outdated locations and migrating operations to modern hubs like its Canon Street facility. These new sites are more energy efficient and easier to automate, aligning with sustainability goals as well as cost reduction.

Behind the scenes, the operator is investing heavily in automation. Migrations that once needed weeks of manual engineering can now be orchestrated through digital tools, freeing people to focus on higher-value work.

3. Building Brand Trust with Reliable Networks

Network reliability remains the bedrock of customer trust. In a digital world, dropped calls, buffering streams, or patchy coverage damage not just service but brand reputation.

Tadayon noted that reliability must extend beyond uptime to cover the entire customer journey. “Trust is the currency of the future — not just in the network but in the brand itself.”

One crucial enabler is the overhaul of Virgin Media O2’s OSS (Operational Support Systems). The company is cutting 200 legacy apps down to a smaller, modern suite that supports real-time monitoring, automation, and faster incident resolution. The result: fewer outages, faster fixes, and a better customer experience.

4. Efficiency and Smart Telecom Investment

Finally, cost control underpins the plan. Virgin Media O2 aims to reduce its total cost of ownership by shutting down older services like 2G and 3G and consolidating redundant assets. The savings will be reinvested into areas that deliver real customer value, like 5G Standalone and fiber rollout.

As Tadayon put it, “We have to make better use of scarce capital.” The goal is not just savings for savings’ sake, but a network fit for new applications, higher data volumes, and emerging use cases like IoT.

Progress Check: Virgin Media O2’s Modernization Milestones

With a plan that’s designed to evolve, it’s fair to ask: how far along is Virgin Media O2?

Tadayon’s answer is pragmatic: “Our three-year plan gets us about 30% there.” She noted key milestones already hit: the launch of 5G Standalone, progress on site closures, a clear backhaul strategy, green initiatives, switch decommissioning, and major OSS upgrades. “It’s not a straight line,” she said. “But we can really evidence moving the dial.”

Making AI Central to Virgin Media O2’s Network Strategy

No modern network strategy can ignore the role of AI. For Virgin Media O2, AI is not an add-on — it’s central to how the operator automates, secures, and optimizes its infrastructure.

Laying the Groundwork for Scalable AI in Telecom

Before AI can deliver, the data must be in place. Virgin Media O2’s first big step was consolidating massive data sets into Google Cloud Platform (GCP). More than 70% of the company’s network and access data — historically the “messiest” — now sits in a clean, centralized environment.

This is supported by an AI Center of Excellence, led by Eric Tyrie, which uses a federated “hub-and-spoke” model. Domains like Tadayon’s network organization act as “spokes” that plug into the AI hub, ensuring solutions are real-world ready.

The approach is comprehensive: clear policies, robust security measures, and strategic partnerships (like the Google collaboration) mean the company can develop AI responsibly and at scale.

Fighting Scam Calls: How Daisy Protects Customers

One of Virgin Media O2’s best-known AI stories is Daisy — a virtual “granny” designed to tackle scam calls.

Daisy doesn’t just block suspicious numbers. She engages scammers in conversation, tying them up for minutes or hours, gathering data on their methods, and preventing them from targeting real customers.

The AI behind Daisy is built on hours of real scam-call training and sophisticated API integration with Virgin Media O2’s systems. By learning how scammers operate, Daisy helps the company update filters and inform law enforcement.

“It’s purely customer-focused,” Tadayon said. “We’re protecting people, deflecting scams, and learning from every call.”

AI Across the Network: Digital Twins and Automation

Beyond Daisy, Virgin Media O2 is pushing AI deep into the network layer.

One tool is the Digital Twin — a virtual replica of the XGS-PON fiber network that allows teams to model scenarios, test upgrades, and optimize performance before rolling out changes live.

An “AI factory” accelerates use case development. Key projects include:

• Autonomous energy management: Using AI to optimize power consumption across thousands of sites.
• Predictive maintenance: Identifying faults before they occur and fixing them remotely, minimizing costly truck rolls.
• Smart escalation: Automating workflows so that if one fix fails, the next response is triggered automatically.

Balancing AI Investments for Maximum ROI

AI investment involves constant prioritization. Should resources focus on smarter tools for contact center agents — like large LLMs that summarize calls or flag vulnerabilities — or on predictive network analytics that prevent issues in the first place?

Tadayon explained, “If you only automate one small piece of an agent’s workload, you’re not transforming the model. To get real ROI, you have to scale your AI so that it meaningfully reduces the total workload.”

This applies to every layer—from customer-facing operations to the deep technical core.

The Next Five Years: Evolving Virgin Media O2’s Vision

So, what’s next?

While new technologies like AI and Edge computing will shift the “how,” the goals remain the same: a simplified, trusted, resilient network that delivers a top-tier customer experience at a sustainable cost. “The outcomes won’t change,” Tadayon concluded. “But how we get there will keep evolving.”

Virgin Media O2: A Blueprint for Telecom Digitalization

Virgin Media O2’s story shows what real digital transformation looks like in practice. It’s not just deploying new radios or switching to cloud-native software. It’s aligning every upgrade to real customer value, modernizing back-end systems, embedding AI and automation everywhere, and always keeping the trust of millions of customers at the center.

In a world where connectivity is non-negotiable, this blend of pragmatic modernization and bold AI ambition shows how a legacy telco can become a truly digital operator — one step, one network, and one virtual scam-fighting granny at a time.