A Bisterne man has won 10 years of free broadband as part of a company's celebrations marking the connection of its 10,000th customer.

Dan Phillips enjoyed the windfall courtesy of Wessex Internet, a rural-focused internet service provider.

Mr Phillips, who was the 10,000th customer, said: "As a director of a tech business and with my wife frequently teaching online, we’re delighted to now have an ultrafast broadband connection as it will make a massive difference to our businesses.

"The whole Wessex Internet team have been friendly and charming from the start.

"We’re excited that our installation has made us the company’s 10,000th customer, particularly as Sen, the installation engineer did such a good job despite having two puppies trying to assist him."

READ MORE: Town councillor who 'loved' her job resigns due to lack of accessibility at meetings

Wessex Internet’s Hampshire regional engagement manager Vicky Missen and customer onboarding specialist Katie Gondelle celebrate reaching 10,000 customers with the Phillips family (Image: Wessex Internet) Wessex Internet is on track for 60 per cent customer growth this year and has recently surpassed 30,000 properties ready for its gigabit service.

The company focuses on delivering internet to hard-to-reach communities across Dorset, south Somerset, Wiltshire and the New Forest.

The company has four government Project Gigabit contracts, worth £71m, to deliver full fibre broadband to more than 53,000 properties in the next four years.

This year has seen significant progress as the internet provider continues to scale its ultrafast network and customer base.

Wessex Internet has already taken a record-breaking 5,000 orders this year, regularly installing 500 new customers each month.

SEE MORE: Bus company highlights men's issues ahead of International Men's Day

Hector Gibson Fleming, CEO of Wessex Internet, said: "We’re thrilled to welcome our 10,000th customer to Wessex Internet.

"We are passionately focused on expanding our services to places where we deliver real social value, and working with our Project Gigabit contracts is enabling us to do that faster and more consistently than ever before.

"Our continuing trend of a 30 per cent network wide take-up proves that our targeted strategy is paying off.

"We’ve never aimed to be the biggest business in the industry, but we understand our rural niche and 2024 has been an incredible year so far.

"Thanks to the hard work and dedication of everyone in our team we are installing more customers than ever before.

"Having hit this milestone, we’re now just looking forward to the next 10,000."