Bigblu subsidiary wins tender for Yorkshire broadband build

Bigblu Broadband announced on Tuesday that its subsidiary Quickline Communications has won a competitive tender to provide fixed wireless access and fibre-to-the-premises broadband to premises in West Yorkshire and York that are unable to access fast and reliable internet connectivity of at least 30 megabits per second.

The AIM-traded firm said that on behalf of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Quickline would enable 1,700 businesses in rural areas to connect to “super-fast” and, in most cases, “ultra-fast” broadband services, while also passing a further 5,000 residential homes within two years.

A number of premises would also be connected to full fibre networks, providing for gigabit speeds.

The company said the contract provides for a total investment of £9.11m in both fibre and fixed wireless networks, leading to significantly faster broadband speeds in the more isolated areas of West Yorkshire and York.

It said the programme would receive a subsidy of £7.646m, with £6.898m funded from DEFRA through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, and £0.75m from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

Quickline was also committing £1.464m of investment to support the roll-out.

Bigblu said it was an “exciting opportunity” to provide super-fast and ultra-fast broadband services to new customers in West Yorkshire and York, and thus it expected to see strong take-up of broadband services from the previously under-served areas, enabling it to continue increasing its customer numbers.

Quickline was also expecting to deliver at least its targeted return on capital of around 15% over the life of the contract.

“We believe that this is the first of a number of potential contract wins for Quickline under Building Digital UK’s super-fast broadband programme,” said chief executive officer Andrew Walwyn.

“This win emphasises the growth potential within the group that management highlighted when it announced the disposal of Bigblu's UK and European satellite broadband operations.”

Walwyn said the company was “delighted” that Quickline had secured the contract, with last year's £12m funding affording it the flexibility for it to tender for capital-intensive contracts as it targeted a customer base of around 30,000 subscribers over the next three years.

“Importantly, there are a number of further opportunities and live tenders, that had been delayed by Brexit and Covid-19, which if converted will provide further significant scale and value to the business.

“We expect that Bigblu will benefit from Quickline's increased valuation, revenues and profitability as its accelerated growth strategy is successfully implemented.”

At 1042 BST, shares in Bigblu Broadband were up 2.25% at 91p.