Cornish MPs Seek Clarity After Wildanet Withdraws from Project Gigabit Contracts

The MP for North Cornwall has demanded urgent action from Ministers after a major broadband provider pulled out of Government funded contracts, leaving thousands of properties without a clear route to fast internet.

Ben Maguire has joined Cornwall’s five other MPs in writing to the Minister for AI and Online Safety following the decision by Wildanet to withdraw from key contracts under Project Gigabit.

7,700 premises left without clarity

Wildanet previously held three Cornwall contracts worth a combined £77 million. The company has now withdrawn from Lots 32.03, covering Cornwall Central, and 32.02, covering Cornwall South West, after completing rollout to 13,200 premises.

That decision leaves around 7,700 contracted premises in limbo.

In their joint letter, the MPs said the Government’s Building Digital agency had confirmed that alternative plans were being put in place.

Building Digital UK said it is “now moving swiftly to put in place alternative plans with other suppliers to connect premises that were due to be covered by these contracts”.

The MPs stressed that ensuring gigabit capable broadband reaches the remaining properties as quickly as possible is essential.

Cross party call for urgent action

The letter was signed by:

• Jayne Kirkham

• Anna Gelderd

• Noah Law

• Andrew George

• Ben Maguire

• Perran Moon

Ben said reliable broadband is “absolutely essential for work, education, and keeping Cornwall’s communities properly connected”.

He added:

“Thousands of properties have now been left in limbo after Wildanet announced it had withdrawn from several Government-funded broadband contracts. It simply isn’t good enough.

That’s why I’ve now joined Cornwall’s other five MPs to demand urgent clarity from Ministers. This extends beyond party politics, and it’s essential that proper connectivity is delivered for all of our constituents. In a joint effort, we’re making sure rural communities like ours aren’t left behind.”

Concerns over rural businesses and resilience

Project Gigabit was designed to bring high speed broadband to hard to reach communities and close the digital divide between urban and rural areas.

In their letter, the MPs highlighted the impact poor connectivity has on rural businesses, particularly farms that rely on digital platforms to access the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme and communicate online with the Rural Payments Agency.

They also pointed to the impact of Storm Goretti at the start of the year, which caused widespread power cuts and brought down more than 1,000 trees. Some communities were left completely cut off with no internet and poor mobile signal for days, and in some cases weeks.

According to the letter, many of the worst affected areas were those already lacking resilient broadband infrastructure. The MPs said the experience was frightening for residents and demonstrated how, in extreme circumstances, digital and mobile connectivity could become a matter of life or death.

They have now asked the Minister to prioritise the rollout of gigabit capable broadband to the remaining 7,700 premises as a matter of urgency, and to provide clear and transparent delivery timeframes once a new supplier is appointed.