Virgin Media offloads email services to third party provider

Virgin Media is ditching its email services and offering customers a window in which to download their data and move to another email provider. The UK's second-biggest broadband provider is closing down its email service completely and transferring the ongoing management of these services to Junara, part of Australia-based specialist email provider Atmail. Customers who wish to continue using their current Virgin Media email address will be invited to move to Junara. This will be subject to a transfer fee and customers will be signing up for a paid-for service, with the first year free of charge. Virgin email users will be contacted directly and given a limited time in which to make up their minds, but will soon have to decide to either sign up with Junara, download any data they wish to keep and move to another provider, or just close their email account. This will affect all customers with an email account provided by the firm, including those with ntlworld, blueyonder, virgin.net and virginmedia.com in their email address. Virgin Media stopped providing new email addresses to customers of its broadband services back in 2022, citing the growing popularity of cloud-based services like Gmail or Outlook. A spokesperson for the company told us: “As we focus and prioritize our investments and resource on ensuring our customers have the best connectivity experience, we have taken the decision to close the remaining Virgin Media email accounts. We’re transferring our email service to Junara, a specialist cloud-based email provider owned by Atmail, giving users a clear route to keep their existing Virgin Media email address if they choose to.” "We are writing directly to all impacted customers to clearly explain the changes and will provide a 45-day window to either sign up with Junara, move to an alternative email provider, or close their account. To support users through this transition, all current Virgin Media customers wishing to move to Junara will receive their first year of service free of charge, with additional support available for those who need it.” The news is being announced in a blog posting by Virgin Media O2 chief operating officer Alan Stott, who says that the way people use email services has changed significantly since they were first introduced decades ago, with the majority of people now preferring a dedicated email provider rather than an account offered by their telecoms operator. “By transferring these email accounts to a specialist provider, we can focus our attention and investment on what we’re ultimately here to do – provide fast and reliable broadband, mobile, landline and TV services, and give our customers the best possible experience,” he says. Virgin Media’s around 5.4 million fixed-line broadband customers, many of whom will now have to quickly decide what to do with their email accounts, may not agree. ®