Monday, 08 November 2021

Cowes, Isle of Wight, 8 November 2021:
West Wight set for full-fibre broadband in 2022

The WightFibre full-fibre Gigabit Island rollout continues at pace with full-fibre broadband service now available to over 30,000 homes and businesses on the Island.

The latest milestone saw WightFibre lay a new fibre optic cable across the River Yar. This cable is part of a fibre optic ring around West Wight connecting Yarmouth, Freshwater, Totland and Brightstone to WightFibre’s new network. Following successful completion of the work to cross the river, work is due to commence in Freshwater and Yarmouth in the coming months.

Laying this fibre, although only a short distance, has been a major undertaking. Care for the environment and the local natural habitats were a primary concern. Various permissions were required from private landowners, the Isle of Wight Council, the Maritime Management Organisation and Crown Estates. This included a public consultation period earlier this year. Close liaison with Natural England has ensured that work is being done outside of breeding and nesting times for wildlife and any potential environmental impact mitigated. Yarmouth Harbour Commission provided invaluable advice and assistance. A number of environmental reports were required including a ‘Habitats Regulation Assessment’, a ‘Water Framework Directive Assessment’, and a ‘Flood Risk Assessment’. These were carried out by Island based environmental specialists ‘Eagle Eye Environmental Solutions’. The work was carried out by WightFibre and RS Divers, assisted by Verevo Nexus Fibre Solutions.

WightFibre’s Chief Executive Officer, John Irvine, said: “WightFibre has made great progress in building the UK’s first Gigabit Island on the Isle of Wight, having already made full-fibre broadband available to over 30,000 premises.

West Wight is often an after-thought in major infrastructure projects, but from the outset WightFibre have always planned to include West Wight in our rollout. This short cable under the River Yar is a major component of our rollout so that we have two routes to West Wight. This will ensure we can provide the most reliable service possible.

By the end of 2022 over 90% of homes in West Wight will be able to receive WightFibre full-fibre broadband”.

- Ends –


Note to Editors:
Technical Note: The deployment of a fibre optic ring around West Wight makes for a very resilient network design. A ring architecture means if the cable is broken by, for example, roadworks by other utilities, the network will continue to operate as a connection can still be made by going the other way around the ring. At fibre optic light speed the extra distance makes no difference to speed or performance of the broadband connection.

A description of the benefits of full-fibre broadband versus copper based broadband together with supporting graphics can be found here. www.wightfibre.com/full-fibre


Contacts:
Deon Redpath, Marketing Director 01983 240125
Email: deon.redpath@wightFibre.com

About WightFibre.
Since 2001, WightFibre has owned and operated its’ own telecommunications infrastructure entirely independently of BT Openreach. WightFibre provides phone, tv and broadband services to homes and businesses on the Isle of Wight. Only WightFibre is committed to building a full-fibre broadband network across the Island.
The WightFibre Gigabit Island Project will see full-fibre broadband deployed to around 75,000 homes and business across the Island by 2023 and is already available to over 30,000 households. The scale of this significant civil engineering project is reflected in figures that show how 500 Kilometers of trenches will be dug, containing 5 million meters of duct and 750 million meters of fibre-optic cable as this full-fibre, ultrafast and future-proof broadband network continues to roll out across the Island, including areas not previously served by WightFibre. www.wightfibre.com

Those interested in receiving the new gigabit broadband services can apply online at www.wightfibre.com