AN INTERNET provider is to create more than 100 jobs in the next 12 months as it accelerates the rollout of full fibre broadband.

Blandford-based Wessex Internet is already focusing on homes and businesses in rural communities but is now expanding to market towns.

It is creating a town planning and delivery team to complement its rural network building operations, taking its services to areas such as Blandford and Sturminster Newton.

The job vacancies are mainly in fibre planning, network engineering, civils and construction for both town and rural network teams, as well as office-based roles supporting the growth.

Most jobs are based in Dorset, with some construction vacancies in Sparkford, Somerset.

Wessex Internet employed 61 people in August 2020 and now employs more than 110, with the number set to top 200 in the next six months.

Hector Gibson Fleming, managing director, Wessex Internet, said: “This is a period of exciting growth for our company. Having won two large publicly funded contracts to roll out ultrafast broadband to rural areas in the space of four months, now is the time to further strengthen our construction teams to accelerate our roll out.

“We’re also excited to set up a new town planning and build team and develop this capability in-house. This will be a vital addition to our company, as we extend our network to local market towns.”

Only 18 per cent of UK homes currently have access to full fibre broadband, but the government has set a target of 85 per cent by 2025.

Wessex Internet’s plans include two major publicly funded projects.

It won is to deliver full fibre to community buildings from Blandford to Sherborne by March 2022, under a contract awarded by Dorset Council and Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership. And it is working on a three-year programme to bring full-fibre broadband to more than 3,600 rural homes and businesses in South Somerset, under a contract with awarded by Connecting Devon and Somerset.

Wessex Internet says it has “significantly boosted” its sales, marketing and network planning teams in the past 12 months and strengthened its management team with key hires in finance and strategy. It was shortlisted in the Rural Business Awards this year.