Quickline secures major Government contract to upgrade rural North Yorkshire broadband

Rural broadband provider Quickline has won a contract worth approximately £70m to connect hard-to-reach premises in North Yorkshire, under the Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit programme.

In total, 36,300 premises in North Yorkshire will benefit from Quickline’s network of fibre broadband.

Areas covered under the rollout stretch from Settle, on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, to the seaside towns of Whitby and Scarborough.

As a result of the investment, Quickline will also expand its commercial network in North Yorkshire to reach even more premises.

As well as the £70m contract covering parts of North Yorkshire, Quickline has also been awarded a new £120m contract to provide fibre broadband to rural areas In East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

In total, Quickline has now been awarded four Project Gigabit contracts, spanning North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

It brings the total public investment in full fibre broadband delivered by Quickline to nearly £300 million.

Quickline CEO Sean Royce said: “The awarding of these contracts underlines our position as the primary Project Gigabit broadband provider in rural Yorkshire.

“We are now the UK’s second largest Project Gigabit regional delivery partner and the only provider to be awarded a contract serving England’s largest county, Yorkshire, under the programme.

“We are a regionally focused provider, and through our work as part of the Project Gigabit programme and beyond, we’re laser focused on delivering on our mission to connect rural communities to a world of possibilities.”

Project Gigabit is a government-funded programme to enable hard-to-reach communities to access lightning-fast, gigabit-capable broadband.

It targets homes and businesses that might otherwise miss out on upgrades to next-generation speeds, due to their rural location.

Work is already underway with communities near Settle among the first to benefit from the availability of Quickline’s full fibre network.

Other areas included in the rollout include those around Knaresborough, Scarborough and Whitby.

Digital Infrastructure Minister Chris Bryant said: "Accelerating the rollout of fast broadband and modernising the country’s digital infrastructure is crucial to kickstarting an era of sustained economic growth in every part of the UK.

“Our £190m investment in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire will heal the headache of endless buffering felt by too many in rural communities, while building the infrastructure needed to attract new investment and ensure the benefits of digital technology reverberate across every corner of the country.”

Gigabit-capable broadband delivers faster speeds and fewer dropouts. Unlike traditional copper-based networks, gigabit connections won’t slow down at peak times, meaning no more battling for bandwidth with the neighbours.

The awarding of the new contract will also see Quickline broaden its commitment to skills, training and community support under its extensive social values programme.

As part of Project Gigabit, Quickline has committed to create more than 200 apprenticeships in the areas covered by the contracts through collaboration with build partners, as well as delivering over 2,500 accredited training courses and online work experience for 1,400 students.

North Yorkshire Council’s leader, Cllr Carl Les, said: “We know just how important broadband connectivity is to all communities, but especially people who are living in our deeply rural areas to ensure that they can stay connected in the 21st century.

“North Yorkshire has wonderful places to live but its vast size and many rural areas do present very specific challenges. A total of 85 per cent of the county is classed as very rural or super-sparsely populated, and the population density is five times below the national average.

“To have such a large part of the county benefiting from one of the new contracts is really significant, with communities from Scarborough to Settle set to see improvements under the investment.”

To find out more about Quickline and its mission to connect rural communities to a world of possibilities, go to: www.quickline.co.uk/about-us.