ISP Wessex Internet Puts FTTP Live in 2 Hampshire UK Villages

Rural broadband ISP Wessex Internet, which is rolling out a gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across rural parts of Southern England, has today revealed that homes and businesses in the Hampshire villages of Sway and Brockenhurst are now going live on the new network.

The deployment is part of the provider’s £14m state aid supported Project Gigabit broadband contract for the New Forest area (Lot 27.01) of Hampshire (England), which aims to bring their full fibre network to cover “around” 10,500 of the hardest-to-reach premises by around the end of 2026. Some of the other locations that are due to benefit include Whitsbury, Damerham and Rockbourne etc.

NOTE: Wessex Internet is backed by abrdn and in late 2023 secured £35m of extra funding, including a Senior Debt Facility from Triodos Bank (here). The ISP has also secured four Project Gigabit contracts – North Dorset (Lot 14.01 – 7,100 premises, £6m state aid), New Forest (Lot 27.01 – 10,500 premises, £14m), South Wiltshire (Lot 30 – 14,500 premises, £18.8m), Dorset and South Somerset (Lot 14 – 21,400 premises, £33.5m).

Prices for their full fibre packages start at £29 per month for a 100Mbps (15Mbps upload) tier on a 12-month term, but this only comes with a meagre 100GB data allowance (£44 for unlimited), and you’ll have to pay £49 (one-off) for activation. By comparison, their top unlimited usage plan will give 900Mbps (450Mbps upload) for £79 per month, which isn’t cheap but then they’re often the only FTTP choice in a lot of their locations (rural areas cost a lot more to serve too).

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