User:Dr Awoh Bor/Cambridge Cable

Cambridge Cable was the cable television and telephone network operator for Cambridge and surrounding area. The company and its network is now part of Virgin Media.

Cambridge Cable Limited was founded in 1988 by three Cambridge businessmen as a cable television and communications company. In June 1989 the company was awarded the cable television franchise for the city of Cambridge and the surrounding area, and in July 1990 was granted licence by the DTI to operate a public telecommunications service and distribute television channels via its underground cable network.

Cambridge Cable's inaugural service commenced in July 1991 with a cable television service; the company's public telephone service launched in September 1992.

The company gained financial and operational backing from Comcast Corporation, a major cable television network operator in the United States, and Singapore Telecom, the public telecommunications operator in Singapore.

The cable television hub and, later, the Nortel DMS 100 telephone switch were installed at a former works building in Ainsworth Street, Cambridge. Services were at first only available near to the hub, but as more underground duct work was installed, the network expanded to include residents and businesses in South Cambridgeshire, East Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and parts of Essex, Suffolk and Hertfordshire.

The company, with its backing from Comcast, purchased Stort Valley Cable Limited and was awarded the franchise for Harlow, Bishop's Stortford and Sawbridgeworth in November 1992; services were provided under the name of Anglia Cable Communications.

Late 1993 saw services started in the company's East Coast Cable franchise with subscribers in Colchester added first; network build throughout Colchester, then Ipswich and, later, Felixstowe followed.

In 1999, the Cambridge Cable Group, as it by then had become known, became part of a growing NTL's portfolio.