Rural Broadband ISP Airband Appoint Paula Strickland as CFO

Alternative internet provider Airband, which has built a mixed Full Fibre (FTTP) and Fixed Wireless (FWA) broadband network across rural parts of England and North Wales, has followed up the recent departure of their CEO (here) and confirmation of further redundancies (here) by announcing that Paula Strickland has been appointed to the role of Chief Financial Officer.

So far as we can recall, Jeffrey Kriek held the role of CFO between 2020 and 2024, before moving on to take a similar role at residential EV charging firm Roam. The new CFO, Paula Strickland, is said to have extensive financial leadership experience, including within the telecommunications sector, with a “strong track record of supporting businesses to strengthen performance, improve financial discipline and deliver sustainable growth“.

Airband has previously stated that their network currently spans a total of “more than 440,000 premises in over 200 communities across 7 counties“ (here), which we were told breaks down as being 175,000 premises via “fibre” (FTTP) and 265,000 premises via FWA (Ready for Service). But they’ve also recently expanded FTTP into off-net areas by partnering with Openreach (here) and have a total of 30,000 customers.

Jarlath Finnegan, Executive Chairman of Airband, said:

“We are pleased to welcome Paula to Airband. Her experience in financial leadership and operational performance will be important as we continue to focus on building a disciplined, sustainable and profitable business. Her appointment reflects the next phase of the business, where strong financial leadership is key to supporting consistent delivery and long-term success.”