Wessex Internet Bringing Full Fibre to 60 Dorset Community Sites

The Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), supported by funding from the UK Government’s £900m Getting Building Fund (GBF), has handed local ISP Wessex Internet the contract to extend their “full fibre” broadband network to connect 60 community sites from Blandford to Sherborne in Dorset.

The news comes only a week after the provider revealed that their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network would be extended to cover a further 8,000 premises in the North Dorset market towns of Blandford Forum and Sturminster Newton (here).

The latest contract, which will see sites such as schools, community centres, a health centre, council depots, farms and adult social care residential homes being connected to WI’s full fibre infrastructure, is expected to complete by March 2022.

Peter Wharf, Dorset Council’s Deputy Leader, said:

“This is fantastic news for the communities in this area. It will mean some of our most rural areas, that would never be covered commercially, will be able to access the next generation of gigabit capable broadband.

This is not only good news for the community organisations, all of which provide vital services, but also to the surrounding residents and business who will now have greater access to full-fibre infrastructure.”

Hector Gibson Fleming, MD of Wessex Internet, added:

“We’re delighted to have been awarded this contract from Dorset Council and Dorset LEP, not only to connect these important community sites, but to enable us to rapidly expand our network to the rural communities between Blandford and Sherborne, and connect more homes and businesses.

We’re passionate about upgrading connectivity in the countryside and have already connected dozens of Dorset villages and hamlets to full fibre broadband. This will accelerate our work in this area and continue to expand our rapidly growing workforce in north Dorset.”

The advantage of contracts like this is that the new fibre they build could eventually also make it easier for Wessex Internet to extend their FTTP network to serve homes and businesses that may exist nearby to the community sites.