The Isle of Wight's own telecoms company, based in Cowes, which runs a full fibre network across the island and provides broadband, TV and phone to homes and businesses.
WightFibre is a telecoms company that serves the Isle of Wight. It provides phone, TV and broadband to homes and businesses and runs its own full fibre network across the island, independently of BT Openreach. It started life as a cable network, and the company has been upgrading it to full fibre under a project it called Gigabit Island, which began in autumn 2018 and sped up in January 2019. Headlines in 2024 and 2025 report that it passed 21,000 broadband customers and then connected its 25,000th full fibre customer.
Wikipedia says the Isle of Wight Cable and Telephone Company was formed in 2000 and began service in January 2001. It was renamed Wightcable in 2002 and WightFibre in 2012, and it is based in Cowes. John Irvine has been chief executive; in a 2020 interview he said he joined in 2012 and had worked at IBM, BT, Verizon and start-ups. WightFibre says its aim is to make the island "one of the best connected places on the planet" and to deliver strong service. Its "Because We Care" ethos, in its logo since 2015, covers customers, employees, the island community and the environment.
The company is entirely focused on one UK island, so its whole workforce and network are in the Isle of Wight. Mr Irvine described some real challenges of building there: land access agreements called wayleaves are complicated, a private company controls the island's roads, and the most remote homes cost far more to reach. He said network planning is outsourced to Flomatiks, and suppliers include Juniper, Keymile, Hexatronics and ICEE. We did not find a staff count in the sources we read.
On culture, WightFibre says it wants to be a good place to work and to contribute to community wellbeing. It employs a Digital Inclusion Officer and runs the Connected Communities Programme, which provides free or discounted broadband and other support to local charities, community groups and not-for-profit organisations. It sponsors local sports teams, including Sandown and Shanklin RFC, Cowes and Gurnard football clubs and Newport Girls Football Club. It aims to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040, matching the island council's timescale. These are the company's own descriptions.
A local telecoms company needs a mix of people: network and field engineers who install and repair fibre, customer service and technical support staff, sales and marketing, finance, and the digital inclusion work that helps people get online. It is a good example of how a telecoms career can be built close to home, on an island, rather than in a big city. Subjects such as engineering, computing, business, communication and geography fit this kind of employer well.
Website: www.wightfibre.com
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