Cornwall Gets Broadband to Rival UK Cities for the First Time

Until now, no broadband provider in Cornwall could send data as fast as it received it. That has changed. Wildanet has launched a symmetrical full fibre service running at up to 2Gbps in both directions, and it is the first provider in the county able to offer it.

What symmetrical broadband actually means

Most home broadband is lopsided. Films, games and updates download quickly, but uploading is far slower. Symmetrical broadband closes that gap, with upload and download running at the same speed. On Wildanet’s new service that means up to 2Gbps each way.

To put that in context, an hour-long HD television programme can download in as little as four seconds.

Ofcom put the average maximum download speed in the UK at 285Mbps in 2025. Wildanet says its symmetrical service runs around seven times faster than that. It is a service no other provider in Cornwall can currently match.

Why it goes beyond faster films

For a household juggling streaming, gaming, remote working and online learning across several devices at once, the appeal is obvious. Faster, smoother, fewer arguments over who is hogging the connection.

But the bigger picture is about business and where people choose to build it. Advanced connectivity is increasingly one of the deciding factors for companies picking a location, for skilled workers picking a place to live, and for anyone starting a digital business. Cornwall and Devon already have growing strengths in tech, creative industries, advanced manufacturing, renewable energy, marine and space. The demand for serious digital infrastructure to support all of that has been building for years.

The launch follows Cornwall Council’s new Cornwall Connected Digital Inclusion Strategy, unveiled earlier this month, which treats reliable connectivity as a foundation for economic opportunity and long-term growth across the county.

What the local voices say

Simon Hughes, Wildanet’s Chief Commercial Officer, said Cornwall and Devon have huge strengths in innovation and emerging industries but need digital capability on a par with anywhere else in the UK to realise their full potential. “Symmetrical connectivity helps support the way people increasingly live and work, whether that’s running a business, collaborating remotely, studying online or managing a busy connected household,” he said.

Holly Patton, Co-CEO and Director of Tech Cornwall and Director of Software Cornwall, was blunt about what has been holding the county back. “For too long, connectivity has been one of the barriers holding Cornwall’s economy back from its full potential,” she said. “Businesses here can now work at the same pace as their counterparts in big cities: no compromises, no workarounds.” Holly added that infrastructure of this kind helps attract investment and gives talented people the confidence to build their careers in Cornwall rather than feeling they need to move to a city.

Toby Parkins, interim-CEO of Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, compared digital connectivity to roads and utilities. “For too long businesses in Cornwall have had to make do with infrastructure that doesn’t match their ambitions,” he said. “That changes now.” Whether a small business, a creative agency working with clients worldwide, or a growing company trying to attract skilled people, he said, they can now operate on a level playing field with businesses anywhere in the country.

The technology making it possible

The new speeds have been enabled by Wildanet’s use of XGS-PON full fibre technology, a newer generation of fibre capable of carrying far more capacity than the older GPON networks many providers still rely on. Those older networks cap download speeds at around 900Mbps, with much slower uploads. Wildanet’s network and software are built to deliver up to 2Gbps both ways.

Who Wildanet are

Wildanet was founded in Cornwall in 2017 to bring high-speed internet to rural and hard-to-reach parts of the South West. It is now the largest AltNet in Cornwall, runs its headquarters from Liskeard, and draws 94% of its workforce from Devon and Cornwall. The company has expanded its full fibre network through a mix of private investment and publicly funded schemes including Project Gigabit, with more than 50,000 connections now enabled across the region.

It has been backed by Gresham House’s sustainable infrastructure strategy, which has put over £100m into the business since 2020. In 2024 Wildanet was named Best Rural Fibre Provider at the UK Fibre Awards and Broadband Provider of the Year at the Connected Britain Awards. The year before, it opened the Wildanet Technical Training Academy in Cornwall and launched an apprenticeship programme with Truro and Penwith College. In January 2024 it became the first UK AltNet to be certified as a B Corporation.

More information is available on the Wildanet website at www.wildanet.com/home-broadband/symmetrical-broadband