Two leading broadband specialists have been appointed to the executive team of ultrafast broadband provider Quickline Communications Limited.
Lee Allison will take up his position as Quickline’s Chief Operating Officer in January 2022. As Head of Engineering Operations in his previous role at KCOM, Mr Allison was responsible for building the award-winning fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network in and around Hull, which brought gigabit broadband capability to over 250,000 premises. He has more recently been responsible for KCOM’s £100m FTTP network expansion investment.
Meanwhile, Ian Smith will join the team in February 2022 as Quickline’s Chief Technology Officer after spending the last four years as Programme Director for the Government’s 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme. Mr Smith has over 25 years of experience in designing, building and operating fixed and mobile networks as well as extensive experience delivering large scale technology and transformational programmes for both public and private sectors, having previously held senior roles at Ericsson, EE and T-Mobile.
The key appointments further strengthen the company’s executive team and demonstrate the unique hybrid broadband network capability that Quickline is rapidly developing. The team is led by Chief Executive Officer Sean Royce, who has already started implementing an impressive growth strategy since he joined the company in May.
Quickline’s founder and interim Chief Technology Officer, Steve Jagger, will step down from his executive duties at the end of the year but remains a shareholder and as a non-executive director.
Sean Royce said:
“We are delighted to attract such high calibre industry specialists to our executive team. Their arrival further underpins the company’s commitment to providing life changing broadband services to those underserved communities in rural areas, as well as to becoming one of Yorkshire’s fastest growing companies.
“These appointments also underline our focus and commitment to bringing full fibre and market leading 5G technology to 500,000 homes and businesses across the North of England and beyond. Lee and Ian will play key roles in the development and implementation of our growth strategy, leading the design and build of our gigabit-capable hybrid network as we fulfil our plans to scale-up and expand the business.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our founder Steve Jagger for his assistance and continued support since I started as CEO in May, and I am delighted that we will still have access to his wealth of experience on our Board as we move into an exciting new chapter for the company.”
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