Quickline's First Rural 5G Site Goes Live

Bigblu Broadband plc

('BBB' or the 'Company' or the 'Group')

Quickline's First Rural 5G Site Goes Live

Bigblu Broadband plc (AIM: BBB.L), a leading provider of alternative super-fast broadband services, is pleased to announce that its subsidiary Quickline Communications ("Quickline") has deployed its first rural 5G site in North Yorkshire. 

This follows Quickline being selected earlier this year to lead a £6m project to plug the mobile connectivity gap using innovation to design and build a commercially sustainable multi use infill network in North Yorkshire, as part of the DCMS funded 5G Rural Connected Communities Trials and Testbed programme. The MANY (Mobile Access North Yorkshire) project will focus on bringing 5G connectivity to the County where 35% of the population currently has no 4G mobile coverage.  

Early trials are positive and is expected to lead to a network that has multiple uses, both fixed and mobile, delivering ultrafast speeds to areas suffering from limited connectivity. The deployment will pass hundreds of premises initially but can then provide for a scalable commercial deployment for 10's of thousands of properties over the next 36 months. It is capable of delivering Ultrafast connections with unlimited data, low latency and high resilience rivalling full fibre deployments.   

Steve Jagger, Chief Executive of Quickline Communications, said:

"This is an exciting step forward for our business, we continue to lead the way in connecting the poorly served areas of the UK and continue to strive for sustainable ultrafast connectivity for all, wherever you may live or work.

"As one of the UK's largest wireless internet service providers, Quickline continues to work closely with various Public Sector bodies and is focused on improving rural connectivity; its innovative solutions remain appealing to a growing number of regions."

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About Bigblu Broadband plc:

Bigblu Broadband plc (AIM: BBB), is a leading provider of alternative super-fast broadband solutions throughout Europe and Australia. BBB delivers a portfolio of super-fast wireless broadband products for consumers and businesses unserved or underserved by fibre.

High levels of recurring revenue, increasing economies of scale and Government stimulation of the alternative broadband market in many countries provide a solid foundation for significant organic growth as demand for alternative super-fast broadband services increases around the world. 

In July 2020, BBB announced the conditional sale of its European Satellite business to Eutelsat and whilst the completion has yet to be concluded this offers an excellent return for its shareholders whilst providing a key asset for Eutelsat to solidify its position in the European Satellite market. With the remaining businesses, BBB is extremely well positioned to continue growing as it targets customers that are trapped in the 'digital divide' with limited fibre broadband options.

BBB provides customers ongoing services including hardware supply, installation, pre and post-sale support billings and collections, whilst offering appropriate tariffs depending on the requirements of each end user.