Cowes: Ultrafast broadband gets Isle of Wight green light

At the Solent Digital Conference in Cowes, Isle of Wight, WightFibre announced that it had secured a £35 million investment to build a full-fibre, future proof, ultrafast broadband network across the Isle of Wight.

WightFibre is the first company in the country to receive investment from the Government’s new Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund, which was launched by the Treasury in July.

WightFibre’s full-fibre broadband network will provide speeds of up to 1Gb or faster to over 50,000 homes and businesses across the island, including areas of the island not previously served by WightFibre. This will create the UK’s first ‘Gigabit Island’.

Full-fibre broadband uses fibre-optic cabling all the way from the exchange into the home. This compares with existing broadband infrastructure on the island which uses fibre to the cabinet but then copper twisted pair from the cabinet to the home.

WightFibre’s chief executive officer, John Irvine, said: “Just 10 years ago few of us could have imagined just how much we would all be using the internet both at home and work. Traditional copper networks have struggled to keep up with demand. The new WightFibre full-fibre network will be capable of handling the islands broadband demands for decades to come, catapulting the island into the front line of the new digital economy”.

James Harraway, director of Infracapital, commented: “We are extremely pleased to announce our investment in WightFibre. This is the first investment by Digital Infrastructure Investment Partners, jointly with Infracapital’s Greenfield strategy, WightFibre has a strong local brand and has a proven capability to deliver good service and fast broadband to homes and businesses on the Isle of Wight, and we look forward to supporting the expansion of its network, to the benefit of customers island-wide.”

Exchequer secretary to the Treasury Andrew Jones said: “I am delighted that just four months since launching the Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund, we are already seeing investment in full fibre broadband flourish. Today’s investment will help provide people living and working on the Isle of Wight with first-class connectivity fit for the future.

“Working with private investors, we will be awarding providers more than £1 billion to bring this gold standard of broadband to people and businesses in all corners of the UK.”

Bob Seely, MP for the Isle of Wight, welcomed the announcement: “This investment is great news for the Island and will mean the majority of homes will soon have some of the fastest broadband speeds in the world.

"The Isle of Wight's WightFibre is the first company in Britain to receive investment from the government’s new Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund."