First cables laid in South Wiltshire

Mole ploughs broke the ground in Stockton last week, as Wessex Internet began work to bring full fibre internet to 14,500 homes and businesses in South Wiltshire.

This work is part of Project Gigabit, a government-funded programme to enable hard-to-reach communities to get fast, reliable broadband. The contract is worth £18.8 million and will see Wessex Internet expanding its existing network in the Wylye Valley, going across the Salisbury Plain, connecting villages surrounding Amesbury, and going as far north as Chisbury and Little Bedwyn. The first communities to be connected will be Stapleford, Wylye and Bapton.

The contract was awarded by the government in March 2024 to be delivered over the next five years. The infrastructure work that started this week follows six months of detailed planning to design the network route, liaison with landowners and communities in the areas that will be connected, and the opening of a new construction base in Codford, where civils operatives delivering the project are based.

Meanwhile, as the network build gets underway to deliver one of Wessex Internet’s latest Project Gigabit contracts in South Somerset, the company has also just reached a significant milestone in delivering its first Project Gigabit project in the North Dorset area, with more than 50% of the properties in this contract now connected. Villages recently connected include Kington Magna, Buckland Newton and Holwell.

All the homes and businesses being connected across South Wiltshire and North Dorset will benefit from full fibre broadband, also known as Fibre to the Premises (FTTP). This means a fibre optic cable goes all the way to each building, rather than stopping at a cabinet down the road. This delivers connection speeds of up to 10Gbps, with far superior speeds and reliability compared to old copper telephone lines.

Hector Gibson Fleming, CEO of Wessex Internet, said: “Wessex Internet is determined to continue our mission delivering ultrafast broadband to rural communities that would otherwise be left behind by traditional providers. Supported by the government’s Project Gigabit, we continue this work at pace, and it’s exciting to see milestones being reached in both our first and one of our newest contract areas.

“This is great news for homes and businesses in the North Dorset and South Wiltshire, who will be able to access world-class connectivity and the many economic and social benefits it provides. We will continue working closely with the residents and businesses across these two contract areas, involving them in our planning process and informing them as soon as our future-proofed broadband is available in their communities.”

Wessex Internet’s rollout will continue over the next five years in South Wiltshire and complete within the next two years in Norh Dorset. It will target hard-to-reach rural areas that, without government investment, would have missed out on faster speeds. This gigabit-capable connectivity is being supported by the government to help expand opportunity, reduce inequality and drive economic growth, by making it easier for rural communities to access broadband that will meet people’s needs for decades.