More than 4,000 homes and businesses across rural South Somerset can now access full fibre broadband following the completion of a major infrastructure project by Wessex Internet in partnership with Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS).
The rollout has connected 4,190 properties in some of the area’s hardest-to-reach communities, with work completed in January after the project began in 2021. An additional 1,100 properties were added to the contract during the build.
Communities including Compton Dundon, Alford, Babcary and North Perrott are among those now able to access gigabit-capable broadband. As part of the project, 22 community organisations and charities have also been connected through Wessex Internet’s Community Hubs scheme, which provides full fibre broadband for £1 a month.
Among those benefiting are Jonathan and Anwen Hoskyns, who run North Perrott Fruit Farm. Jonathan, who also serves as a parish councillor, said the village had struggled with unreliable internet for years.
‘We were forever balancing our internet over two copper lines just to get something workable. I’d be on the phone to the provider once a month, sometimes more, trying to get it sorted. We’d been waiting for fibre for years. Wessex did the job ten times quicker than anyone else and really got on with it.’
He added that the improvements had been felt across the wider community.
‘It’s been astonishing, the parish council used to be full of complaints about the internet, but those have completely disappeared. Underneath, there’s a whole new infrastructure, but on the surface, you wouldn’t even know it’s there. What you do notice is that everything just works.’
The project involved laying 1.28 million metres of fibre cable across 85 rural communities, often using specialist mole-ploughing techniques to reduce disruption to farmland. Construction also continued through one of Somerset’s wettest winters on record.
Councillor Mike Rigby, CDS Board Member and Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Economic Development, Planning and Assets, said the project had overcome significant challenges to bring reliable broadband to isolated communities.
Wessex Internet says it is continuing to expand its full fibre network across the South West through further government-backed programmes, with the aim of improving digital connectivity for rural homes, businesses and community organisations.
