ISP Quickline Expand Superfast WiMAX Wireless Broadband Network to Kent UK

Quickline Communications, which operates a fixed wireless broadband network around various parts of East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (England), has signed a new wholesale agreement with OrbitalNet that will allow its service to reach customers in Kent and put it into direct competition with local rival Vfast. Sort of.

Until now OrbitalNet’s local telecoms infrastructure has only ever been available on a wholesale basis to Vfast, which runs its own WiMAX based fixed wireless broadband network in Kent. One interesting dynamic to today’s news is that Vfast is also Orbital’s sister company. Quickline will now be able to take advantage of this same infrastructure.

For its part Vfast claims to cover between 70-80% of Kent with a superfast broadband service that can deliver speeds of greater than 24Mbps (Megabits per second). It also claims to have “ambitious plans over the next 3 years” to expand and improve that coverage, although no further details were revealed. The ISP is currently preparing to launch a new range of up to 60Mbps capable packages.

By comparison Quickline’s AIRFibre Home package charges £27.50 inc. VAT per month for a symmetric 10Mbps connection with “unlimited” usage. On top of that there’s a 30-day money back guarantee but customers will still need to shell out for a hefty £195.00 one-off installation.

Darren Brown, Managing Director of OrbitalNet, said:

“We are very happy to welcome Quickline Communications to Kent as they are currently limited to Hull, South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, I feel this move will provide residents of Kent, especially in rural area’s more choice and a wider range of services, Kent is a great place to live and has just got even better!“

It’s fair to say that wireless ISPs haven’t exactly had the best run of luck lately, not least with the government (BDUK) often supporting but then later appearing to overlook their contributions when publishing maps of local superfast broadband coverage; many of these initially only considered fixed line availability.

Meanwhile Quickline has been busy expanding its reach and last week acquired local ISP Hull Broadband, which reinforced its position as a “major player in the previously monopolised, business and residential broadband market“. Quickline claims to be completely separate from both local incumbent KC and national UK telecoms operator BT.

Quickline recently pledged to have 100% broadband coverage of even the very remotest areas of East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire by the end of 2012. It last week claimed to have achieved 90% of that goal.