Satellite ISP SSW Gobbles UK Fixed Wireless Broadband Provider Quickline

In an interesting twist Satellite Solutions Worldwide, which owns the UK and Pan-European Satellite ISP Europasat, has acquired rural fixed wireless broadband provider Quickline for an initial consideration of £5 million (£3m cash and £2m shares). A further £2 million is also be invested to grow the business.

At present Quickline run a growing number of 50Mbps capable wireless broadband networks around parts of Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and the Pennines of England. A few months ago they also gobbled up part of rival rural wireless provider AB Internet for an undisclosed sum (this reflected AB’s former “network and customer base in Newark, Boston and Peterborough“).

A recent submission to Ofcom (here) revealed that Quickline hoped to expand their network coverage around the “M62/A1 corridor,” potentially taking in additional parts of Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland and Birmingham, as well as acquiring new sites in East and North Yorkshire.

Suffice to say that SSW’s move to acquire the ISP will give them some extra clout and help to diversify away from their sole focus on Satellite. Both technologies are often used to serve remote rural premises in the UK and they can even be combined (i.e. Satellite capacity for terrestrial fixed wireless distribution), although meagre data allowances and slow latency times tend to hinder Satellite based services.

Andrew Walwyn, CEO of SSW, said:

“Whilst we are already the leading domestic satellite broadband provider in the UK, the acquisition of Quickline further diversifies our revenue base and broadens our last-mile broadband technology offering. The growing appetite for internet connectivity appears unstoppable and we are seeing continued demand for our last-mile broadband solutions, reflected by the growth in our customer numbers.”

Apparently the deal is being financed by a proposal to place new shares and raise gross proceeds of approximately £8.1 million. The announcement also states that Quickline generated revenues of £2.3m and EBITDA of around £0.3m in the last year.