UK ISP Quickline, which aims to invest £500m on a major rollout of “ultrafast and gigabit-capable broadband” across rural parts of North England and beyond, has today announced that two industry veterans – Lee Allison and Ian Smith – will be appointed as their new Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
The provider, which was recently gobbled up by Northleaf Capital Partners ahead of their long-term ambition to cover 500,000 UK premises (here), is currently being run by KCOM’s former boss, Sean Royce. Similarly, the company’s new COO, Lee Allison, was previously KCOM’s Head of Engineering Operations and will start his new role in January 2022.
As for Ian Smith, he was previously a Programme Director for the Government’s 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme, but will now become Quickline’s CTO from February 2022. He has over 25 years of experience in designing, building and operating both fixed and mobile networks and previously held senior roles at Ericsson, EE (BT) and others.
Sean Royce said:
“We are delighted to attract such high calibre industry specialists to our executive team. Their arrival further underpins the company’s commitment to providing life changing broadband services to those underserved communities in rural areas, as well as to becoming one of Yorkshire’s fastest growing companies.
These appointments also underline our focus and commitment to bringing full fibre and market leading 5G technology to 500,000 homes and businesses across the North of England and beyond. Lee and Ian will play key roles in the development and implementation of our growth strategy, leading the design and build of our gigabit-capable hybrid network as we fulfil our plans to scale-up and expand the business.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our founder Steve Jagger for his assistance and continued support since I started as CEO in May, and I am delighted that we will still have access to his wealth of experience on our Board as we move into an exciting new chapter for the company.”
Meanwhile, Quickline’s founder and interim CTO, Steve Jagger, will finally step down from his executive duties at the end of the year, although he remains a shareholder and non-executive director.
Quickline previously said their rollout will involve an “innovative hybrid approach” by utilising both 5G wireless and fixed “full fibre” FTTP networks for a “cost-effective, technical solution”.
Northleaf raised $4 billion earlier this year. Are they really going to spend or guarantee £500 million for Quickline?
This is all getting a bit out of hand. There is going to be a lot of consolidation and administrations next year.
Reminded of 2000/2001 in a big way.