Broadband ISP Quickline, which is deploying a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and fixed wireless (5G FWA) network across parts of the North East and Midlands of England (mostly rural), has today secured a £125m term loan and £100m debt guarantee from the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB), alongside a £25m term loan from NatWest.
Prior to today the provider was being supported by funding of c.£500m from Northleaf Capital Partners and c.£296.4m of public subsidy from Project Gigabit (here, here and here). Quickline holds an aspiration to cove around 500,000 premises in rural and semi-rural areas across Northern England and beyond with “ultrafast broadband” – via both FTTP and wireless technologies – “by 2025” (here). Some 200,000 of those rural premises will be tackled by their wireless network, with the other half or more coming from FTTP.
The new term loans and guarantee thus form an additional £250m debt package that will help to underpin their existing coverage targets. This is particularly important for their four Project Gigabit contracts, which, on completion, will cover almost 170,000 premises with full-fibre broadband in hard-to- reach rural areas across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. As a result of that, Quickline will also expand their commercial network to a further 190,000 in these communities.
However, we haven’t had an overall progress update on their build since November 2023, which makes it difficult to assess their performance. Service take-up is also another question mark, although as a younger altnet we wouldn’t yet expect that to be very high.
Sean Royce, CEO at Quickline, said:
“This financial backing marks a significant endorsement of Quickline’s robust business model, our mission to connect the unconnected and to help regenerate our northern rural communities. Furthermore, it demonstrates UKIB’s confidence in our strategic vision and operational capabilities. It also reflects a broader investor interest in tackling the digital divide that exists today and supporting sustainable and impactful business initiatives.”
Ian Brown, Head of Banking & Investments at UKIB, said:
“We are pleased to support Quickline with their continued network expansion to bring better connectivity to homes and businesses across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Our guarantee product is perfectly placed to unlock additional investment into the market to improve digital infrastructure in harder to reach areas of the UK.”
Andrew Blincoe, MD of Corporate Banking & Structured Finance at NatWest, said:
“We are delighted to have partnered with UKIB to support Quickline on this innovative transaction that will bring full fibre broadband to rural customers across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Investing in new infrastructure is key to the UK’s economic growth and, as the UK’s leading infrastructure bank, we will continue to support in this drive. Bringing this transaction to life and enhancing connectivity to over 360,000 Quickline customers is a great example of how we are doing just that.”
Residential customers reached by their new full fibre network are typically charged from £29 per month on a 24-month term for 100Mbps (50Mbps upload) speeds with free installation, and that goes up to £49 for their top 900Mbps (450Mbps upload) tier. The first 3 months of service are also free.