And now for something completely different. Rural broadband ISP Quickline, which is rolling out a gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) and 5G powered fixed wireless access (FWA) network across rural parts of England (Yorkshire and Lincolnshire), has helped to launch a new children’s book that explains the work network operators do and educates on safety etc.
The book – ‘Cones and Rural Broadband‘, which was commissioned by Quickline and written by author Chris Madeley, is the latest in a series involving animated traffic cones that “come to life to explore the world around them“. The book introduces young readers to the world of broadband while reinforcing important health and safety messages.
The first copies were handed out, for free, at a special event at the University of Bradford, where Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Beverley Mullaney, joined around 100 pupils and teachers from eight West Yorkshire schools to celebrate the launch.
Sean Royce, CEO at Quickline, said:
“We’re delighted to support primary schools across Yorkshire with this donation. The books are a fun and engaging way for young people to learn about broadband and safety, while also sparking an interest in the telecommunications industry.
At Quickline, we believe in leaving a lasting legacy in the communities we serve. By mixing the best of both worlds – reading books and using digital tools – we can help our young people to learn, create and imagine the future. I’d like to thank everyone involved in this fantastic project for helping us get these books into the hands of local children.”
Chris Madeley, Author, added:
“The real purpose behind the Cones book series is to show children opportunities available to them when they grow up, teach them about different industries and careers and to get them engaged. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Quickline on this book explaining the importance of rural connectivity and it’s been really interesting finding out for myself about the technology and explaining it in a way that children will understand.”
Sadly, we weren’t provided a copy of the book, although we did get a nice picture of some semi-enthusiastic looking children enjoying a read. Perhaps they got to a cartoon section where the talking traffic cones were tasked with filling out Openreach’s PIA forms – lasting a full 10 pages, before ultimately walking into the path of an oncoming truck out of despair (disclaimer – no such pages actually appear in the book, we’re joking, hopefully).
On a more serious note, we’ve not seen anything quite like this being done by a broadband operator before, and it does seem like a very interesting and positive approach.
