A new £41 million contract has been awarded to Wildanet to provide gigabit-capable broadband for up to 16,800 homes and businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
It is the third major investment in Cornwall as part of the UK Government’s £5 billion Project Gigabit rollout to hard-to-reach homes and businesses.
It follows an investment of £36 million by the government in 2023, which saw Wildanet awarded two contracts to connect up to 19,250 homes and businesses in south-west and mid Cornwall.
Locations in line for connections now include:
- Bude
- Callington
- Camborne
- Constantine
- Coxford
- Crantock
- Falmouth
- Gunnislake
- Kilkhampton
- Launceston
- Leedstown
- Liskeard
- Looe
- Lostwithiel
- Mitchell
- North Tamerton
- Newquay
- Pensilva
- Perranporth
- Polyphant
- Redruth
- St Germans
- St Mary’s on the Isles of Scilly
- St Mawes
- Stithians
- Threemilestone
- Torpoint
- Tregony
- Truro
- Widemouth
The announcement today (Wednesday) joins up the areas already being delivered by Wildanet and takes total Project Gigabit investment in Cornwall to £74 million - targeting more than 37,000 premises.
Wildanet is also investing more than £100 million of private equity investment in rolling out its own gigabit capable broadband network across Cornwall and Devon.
Initial work on network planning and surveys will start soon and installation works are expected to get under way in autumn of this year.
Gigabit-capable broadband is capable of delivering speeds of up to 1,000 megabits (or one gigabit) per second – which Wildanet says it up to 30 times faster than superfast connections that rely on traditional copper cables.
The firm said: “Gigabit speeds mean households can download a high-definition film in under one minute, stream and download entertainment and shop online across several different devices at once.
“Project Gigabit is the UK Government’s flagship programme to enable hard-to-reach communities to access lightning-fast gigabit-capable broadband. It targets homes and businesses that are not included in broadband suppliers’ commercial plans, reaching parts of the UK that might otherwise miss out on getting the digital connectivity they need, and supports small and medium-sized enterprises, which play a pivotal role in driving progress within their regions.”
Helen Wylde-Archibald, Wildanet chief executive officer, said: “The latest investment through Project Gigabit and the awarding of this contract is excellent news for Cornwall and for its many remote and hard-to-reach communities.
“It will help to bridge the digital divide, rectifying the historic imbalance in rural broadband provision whilst furthering the Government’s ambition to grow the economy by rolling out first-class digital infrastructure.
“Wildanet is incredibly proud to be playing a pivotal role in such an important initiative and we are committed to delivering the best possible result for the people of Cornwall and South West England and repaying the trust that been put in us by the Government.”
Householders in Mullion, in the south west of Cornwall, and Lanivet in mid Cornwall have been among the first 1,000 homes to see the new service go live already.
Ellen Morris, who lives in the village of Lanivet, with her partner Michael and their two-and-a-half-year-old son, said the new broadband service had been transformational for the family.
“We were getting a 30 to 40Mbps service previously over copper wires but with fibre we’re now getting speeds of about 200Mbps," she said, adding that they could now use the internet anywhere in their home instead of just the front room.
“My partner is self-employed and has to file regular returns with HMRC, including uploading documents and receipts to the HMRC website. Uploads could take up to 15 minutes with our old service but are now completed in seconds and the stability of the service makes completing online forms and filing this information much easier."
Wildanet has more than doubled its workforce in the last 18 months to now employ more than 220 staff.
Last year the company launched the Wildanet Technical Training Academy, providing industry-leading training for the next generation of telecommunication engineers. The initiative, together with a new apprenticeship programme with Truro and Penwith College, is a key part of delivering the Project Gigabit contracts.
In January, Wildanet also became the first UK AltNet (Alternative Network Provider) to become a Certified B Corporation.
For more information about the project visit www.wildanet.com/projectgigabit
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