Godshill Locals Frustrated After Removal from Gigabit Broadband Contract UPDATE

The Godshill Parish Council (GPC) in the New Forest National Park of Hampshire (England) has revealed that UK ISP Wessex Internet has “taken the decision to cancel the planned build” of a new gigabit-capable broadband network in the rural area, although there’s some confusion over the reason for this move.

According to Thinkbroadband, which spotted the development, the area had been due to gain access to a new full fibre (FTTP) network as part of Wessex Internet’s deployment under the Government’s Project Gigabit contract for the New Forest area in Hampshire (LOT 27.01). GPC’s website similarly stated that the roll-out was due to complete by the end of 2026, but that has now changed.

“This is a deeply concerning situation. We were part of the Government’s original roll-out plans, and now we’ve been removed on the basis that someone else will deliver — yet no-one can tell us who that is,” said Councillor Richard Fell, Chairman of GPC.

The change appears to stem from a recent contract modification notice, which we covered a couple of weeks ago (here). The modification reduced the scope of Wessex Internet’s deployment for LOT 27.01 from 15,120 to 12,733 premises and similarly decreased its contract value (public subsidy) from £17.4m to £16.3m.

At the time we speculated that this change could reflect an increase in coverage by commercial network operators (i.e. less of a need for public subsidy to support gigabit network expansion), which appears to have been confirmed by the latest development.

However, both TBB and the GPC have thus far been unable to identify which commercial operator will reach the area and when that might occur, although Openreach are known to be building around the same region. But so far, the only Godshill on Openreach’s commercial plan is the one for the Isle of Wight, and they’ve since informed the GPC that they have no plans to build in Godshill of the New Forest area.

We have asked around and will update this article if any clarity emerges over future deployment plans for the community.

UPDATE 7th May 2026 @ 3:28pm

Recently it was reported to us that Openreach’s availability checker had suddenly started indicating that their FTTP network was being rolled out in the same area, which caused some surprise and confusion given the operators previous position above.

We raised this and had to wait a while to get the final response, but Openreach have now clarified that they’re building commercially in the Fordingbridge exchange area, but still have “no plans” for Godshill specifically.

The current exchange-level status is “we’re building now“, and that’s fed into their fibre checker, which is why some addresses in Godshill may be seeing the same results. But sadly they aren’t going to reach the community, although their future plans are subject to change.