Wildanet hits 10k build milestone in Cornwall rollout

Wildanet is celebrating a double-milestone in its £77m rollout of full fibre broadband in Cornwall as part of Project Gigabit, and has now connected a total of 10,000 premises in the first two phases across the south west and central parts of the region.

The company is now starting the third major phase of work, with the installation of high-tech infrastructure under way in east Cornwall.

Since 2023, Wildanet has secured three contracts worth £77m to roll out full fibre broadband to over 37,000 premises across Cornwall, as part of Project Gigabit.

Work to date under the first two contracts has now seen 10,000 connections go live across 33 separate build areas in south west and mid Cornwall, involving more than 2,500 km of fibre-optic cable to be laid, 159 km of physical infrastructure installation and civil engineering work and a total of 1,622 new chambers constructed.

Justin Clark, Wildanet Chief Strategy & Technology Officer said: “Providing reliable, high-speed broadband to rural and underserved areas is at the heart of our mission and fundamental to future wellbeing, social inclusion and economic opportunities in Cornwall.”

The double-milestone follows the partnership agreement in 2024 with Nokia and Xantaro, with the aim of accelerating its network roll-out.

This brought together Wildanet’s connectivity experience locally, with Nokia and Xantaro’s international expertise and resources in planning, project managing and delivering major infrastructure and network deployments.

Paul Alexander, Vice President and Country General Manager of UK&I at Nokia said: “Building a partnership on a shared vision with Wildanet, we used Nokia's solutions, from project management and delivery services to a full Nokia XGS-PON and Managed WiFi portfolio, to bridge the digital divide and empower businesses and communities in Cornwall.”