CEO of UK Alternative Cornwall Broadband ISP Wildanet Departs UPDATE

Alternative network provider Wildanet, which has spent the past few years deploying a mix of full fibre and wireless broadband networks across rural parts of Cornwall and Devon in England, has today confirmed to ISPreview that its CEO, Helen Wylde-Archibald, has “left the business“.

The operator was last year estimated to have so far covered around 30,000 premises (Ready for Service) with their newest Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, which stems from a mix of both commercial and publicly funded builds. In terms of the latter, Wildanet has secured several contracts since 2023 – worth £77m (state aid) – to deploy their fibre to over 37,000 premises across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly under the UK government’s Project Gigabit scheme (here and here)

However, the internet provider has also been coming under many of the same pressures as other UK network operators, which typically stems from issues such as high interest rates, rising build costs, competition and the associated difficulty of being able to raise fresh investment. A few weeks ago we reported that this had pushed the ISP into a period of restructuring (here), which was expected to result in the loss of up to 35 jobs (roughly 18% of their workforce).

The situation appeared to take another turn yesterday after sources began informing ISPreview that the company’s CEO, Helen Wylde, had notified of her intention to leave the business, which the ISP has now confirmed.

A Spokesperson for Wildanet told ISPreview:

“We can confirm that Helen Wylde-Archibald has left the business. We thank Helen for her leadership and the significant contribution she has made since her appointment in 2022. We are very grateful to Helen for the key role she has played in delivering on Wildanet’s mission to bring fibre broadband to under-served communities across the South West. We wish her the best for the future.

The executive team will continue to oversee the execution of the company’s strategy – bringing high-speed broadband to homes, businesses, and communities throughout Cornwall and Devon and we will appoint a successor in due course.”

UPDATE 2:38pm

The original version of this article noted how our sources, which notified us of the CEO’s departure, had also “alleged that this was due to the company’s recent performance, among other things.” Wildanet has since denied this and described it as being not factually correct. Helen’s forte is scaling and transforming businesses, and she feels that she has achieved what she set out to do at Wildanet.

Helen is described as playing a pivotal role in Wildanet’s growth and evolution, with her vision and leadership said to have been “instrumental in shaping the company into the dynamic, high-growth business it is today“. A new CEO will be announced in due course, who will take the business through to its next stage. We apologise for any error.