Rural ISP Wessex Internet Start Gigabit Fibre Rollout in Blandford

Rural focused ISP Wessex Internet has now started and made progress on the rollout of their new 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in the North Dorset (England) market town of Blandford, which aims to cover “more than” 6,000 premises (homes and businesses).

The first phase of construction in Blandford is already complete, and the company has just started connecting customers around the Sunrise Business Park and in Blandford Heights. Work on the main second phase of the project, which aims to connect residential properties, has now started, with residents in the Milldown area set to be the first to benefit.

The work is part of their existing projects in Dorset, such as the scheme to connect 60 community sites from Blandford to Sherborne to full fibre (here), and their combined rollout 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).

Blandford is thus just the first of a number of market towns in Dorset and Somerset that the company is in the process of connecting. As part of that, they’re also busy creating another 100 jobs in the region to support their effort.

Hector Gibson Fleming, CEO of Wessex Internet, said:

“Our expansion into market towns is an exciting new chapter for Wessex Internet, and there was no question we’d start in our hometown of Blandford. We’re delighted to have completed the phase one infrastructure build and can’t wait to start connecting residents to full fibre broadband.”

The only downside is that Wessex Internet’s full fibre packages aren’t as affordable as some of their competitors, which could leave them at a disadvantage in areas where they’re overbuilt by rivals (Blandford is on Openreach’s future rollout plan). But such prices are still attractive in areas where they face no known prospect of FTTP rivals encroaching on their patch.

Prices typically start at £29 per month for a 100Mbps (15Mbps upload) tier on a 12-month term, but 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.