Wildanet is a rural fibre network provider based in Cornwall and Devon, in the southwest of the UK. Formed in 2017, Wildanet has grown to over 100 staff and has invested £50 million to build a new network to serve areas of the county that still do not have access to fast, reliable internet connectivity. The company recently hit a new milestone of 3,500 homes connected. At the 2024 UK Fibre Awards won the award for the Best Rural Fibre Provider.
The issue of supplying reliable, high-speed broadband to rural areas is not limited to the UK. The same problem is present in many European countries and across North America. To stimulate deployment in the US, a number of federal funding initiatives, such as the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) fund, were launched in recent years. Similarly, the government-sponsored executive agency Building Digital UK (BDUK) has helped support providers like Wildanet with their deployments.
However, the solutions needed to connect rural communities are often not straightforward and require local knowledge, with specialist technical skills supported by great customer service. Investment in building rural fiber networks has to be proven. In addition, the quality of the build must be verified to meet reliability requirements, safeguard investments and avoid unnecessary maintenance/repair costs.
As part of their network rollout, Wildanet have partnered with VIAVI to utilize our award-winning remote fibre test system, ONMSi. Combined with the FTH-5000 rack-mounted OTDR, Wildanet is using ONMSi to first verify the quality of their network as it is being built and then to monitor the fibre – allowing them to respond quickly to the exact location of an issue, should one arise.
Members of the VIAVI UK team caught up with Wildanet at their headquarters in Cornwall and took a trip out in the field with them to learn more about their deployment, which you can see here.
Watch Viavi's video HERE