Wessex Internet to operate fully from Dorset

The Ranston Estate has agreed terms to acquire M12 Solutions’ share of the Wessex Internet joint venture. The Ranston purchase will see it operate as Wessex Internet Ltd from its Dorset HQ near Blandford, assuming all responsibilities for the business from early 2018.

This incorporation into a single vehicle will allow Wessex Internet to continue the growth it has seen under the joint venture with a management team focussed wholly on the business itself. M12 Solutions whose history prior to starting the Wessex Internet JV with Ranston had been providing business telecoms services, will exit and focus on providing internet connectivity to businesses and home workers nationally under its Giganet brand name. Wessex Internet will be starting a major upgrade of its network following the takeover and increasing its focus on fibre to the premise connections for homes and businesses across the Wessex area.

Ranston Partner and Co-founder of Wessex Internet, James Gibson Fleming said: “We are passionate about providing the best possible connectivity to customers. The buy out of our JV partners will allow us to focus locally on building the network and working with landowners to get fibre to the remotest places. In a very dynamic industry we will be continuing to provide our existing and new customers with the fastest internet service in the UK.”

Ranston Managing Director, Hector Gibson Fleming said: “We are hugely excited about the potential Wessex Internet offers and will continue to build on the massive success that our joint venture with M12 has been. We are currently preparing for a significant investment in the core network and look forward to releasing details of our upgrade plans early in the New Year. The success of Wessex Internet has been the personal touch and ‘can do’ attitude of the team, incorporating the business into a single company will reinforce that ethos and give us the confidence to invest further in our proprietary network.”

M12 Solutions Managing Director Andrew Skipsey said: “Wessex Internet has been a fantastic part of M12, we’ve had a major influence in transforming the lives of many previously poorly-connected communities and businesses across the Dorset, Wiltshire and Somerset areas. Our unlikely and very innovate joint venture relationship with Ranston has delivered for our area in an exemplary fashion. My technical team has ensured our Internet core remained up 100% of the time and our customers gave us an incredible customer service score of 96%. We’re very sad to be saying goodbye to Wessex Internet but are hugely proud of what we have achieved and the timing is perfect for M12 to re-focus on our premium business telecoms & connectivity solutions, whilst allowing Ranston to move forward with Wessex Internet’s next stage.”

M12 Solutions Technical Director and Co-founder of Wessex Internet Matthew Skipsey said: “From what started out as a pilot, wirelessly beaming our Shaftesbury broadband connection to my friend’s family farm 6 miles away, to growing into a hybrid 10Gb fibre and fixed-wireless network, now supporting over 2,000 customers and a massive 390TB of data transfer per month, it’s been an incredible journey since late 2010. The M12 team have had to spin many plates working to grow sustainably and the national recognition last year that we were the best in the UK was perhaps the highlight. M12’s next chapter is equally exciting, with national availability of our superfast and ultrafast internet with our hosted VOIP platform under a new connectivity brand name, Giganet. I wish Hector and James every success; they already know the business inside-out and have great determination and passion for what Wessex Internet is all about”.