The cable operators are stepping up their efforts to expand their WiFi footprint dramatically by harnessing homespots (residential gateways with a second SSID left open for public access). Liberty Global said in February that it intended to offer 10m hotspots and homespots, across its European territories, by the end of 2015, and now it is clear that its UK subsidiary, Virgin Media, will contribute a major proportion. Virgin has fired the first shot in a quad play war in the UK, which is likely to squeeze broadband and cellular prices further, in an already competitive market. It has confirmed to the UK’s Daily Telegraph that it will launch a campaign to attract customers to homespot WiFi sharing from its 4.5m…