06 September 2022

Over 40,000 premises on the Isle of Wight can now receive full-fibre broadband services provided by WightFibre.

This includes availability for the first time in Ventnor, Lake, Nettlestone and Seaview. Most businesses and homes in Sandown and Shanklin are also ready for service. Cables have already been laid to a further 10,000 homes with service to those enterprises and homes scheduled to become available over the summer.

This means WightFibre’s Gigabit Island Project is well over the half-way mark with a total of 460km of trenches dug to date. The company expects service to be available to 60,000 premises by the end of the year with an ultimate target of around 80,000 premises. This equates to 96% of all premises.

“We are really pleased to have connected our first full-fibre customers in Ventnor and Seaview,” said John Irvine, CEO of WightFibre. “

We expect the network build across the Island to be largely complete by the end of 2023. Our new full-fibre, future-proof network is second to none on the planet and this, coupled with our very high levels of customer care, is giving customers what they want – fast reliable broadband that just works.”

WightFibre’s full-fibre, “ultrafast and future-proof broadband” is live in Cowes, East Cowes, Newport, Wootton, Ryde, Lake, Nettlestone, Seaview, Sandown, Shanklin and Ventnor. It is also expected to go live in Freshwater and Yarmouth – extending the company’s reach into the west of the island. Work on WightFibre’s Gigabit Island Project is ongoing in St Helens, Bembridge, Brading and numerous other towns and villages across the Isle of Wight.