Wessex Internet Create 100 New Jobs to Boost Full Fibre Rollout

UK ISP Wessex Internet, which is currently building a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to rural homes and businesses in Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire and Wiltshire (Southern England), has announced that they intend to create another 100 jobs in the region to help boost their rollout.

The new jobs, which are to be created over the next 12-months, will represent a 100% year-on-year increase in employees and should help to “accelerate the roll out of its ultrafast full fibre broadband network” (i.e. most of the new roles are in fibre planning, network engineering, civils and construction).

All of this should complement Wessex Internet’s existing projects in Dorset, such as their scheme to connect 60 community sites from Blandford to Sherborne to full fibre (here), and their work to cover 8,000 premises in the North Dorset market towns of Blandford Forum and Sturminster Newton (here). Not to mention their gigabit vouched builds (here) and the £4.7m Phase 2 CDS contract to cover 3,618 premises with FTTP in rural parts of South Somerset (here).

The latest recruitment drive thus follows the provider’s rapid growth during the past year – it employed 61 people in August 2020, and now employs over 110, with this number now set to increase to 200 employees within the next 6 months.

Hector Gibson Fleming, MD of Wessex Internet, said:

“This is a period of exciting growth for our company. Having won two large publicly funded contracts to roll out ultrafast broadband to rural areas in the space of four months, now is the time to further strengthen our construction teams to accelerate our roll out.

We’re also excited to set up a new town planning and build team and develop this capability in-house. This will be a vital addition to our company, as we extend our network to local market towns.”

The operator’s network currently consists of more than 150 wireless masts (used to fuel their existing Fixed Wireless Access services) and over 2,000km of fibre. Prices for their full fibre service typically start at £29 per month for a 100Mbps (15Mbps upload) tier on a 12-month term, although this only comes with a 100GB data allowance (£44 for unlimited), and you’ll have to pay £49 (one-off) for activation. By comparison, their top unlimited usage package will give you 900Mbps (300Mbps upload) for £84 per month.