Quickline wins national award recognising outstanding community contribution

In 2023, East Yorkshire-based Quickline launched its QFutures programme, with a clear focus on giving back to the communities it connects with its network of fibre and fixed wireless broadband.

In the past 12 months, QFutures has helped to deliver more than £13 million of social value in community-based projects across rural Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

Initiatives have included educating pupils on the dangers of online security, supporting digital literacy and skills classes and hosting a variety of community events for residents and businesses to enjoy and benefit from. 

The positive impact of the QFutures was celebrated at the 2024 UK Fibre Awards, where Quickline won the award for Best Community Support Project.

Held at London’s Marriott Grosvenor Square hotel, the UK Fibre Awards brings together more than 500 representatives from across the broadband industry.

Sean Royce, CEO at Quickline, said: “We’re committed to leaving a long-term, lasting legacy on the communities we serve. 

“By investing in education and skills development, we’re empowering individuals to thrive in the digital age, driving economic growth and supporting the sustainability and prosperity of rural communities for generations to come.

“We’re delighted that QFutures was recognised at the 2024 UK Fibre Awards. Congratulations to all of our team who have made the programme such an enormous success, delivering valuable projects for rural communities across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

“Over the coming months and years, we’ll be delivering countless more projects such as these, as well as supporting the Government with its commitment to make gigabit-capable broadband available in even the hardest-to-reach areas.”

QFutures launched with three key pillars – to educate, enrich and enhance.

Through its educate pillar, Quickline’s social values team has helped cultivate the future digital workforce in the rural areas it serves.

Working with rural primary schools, Quickline has so far helped educate more than 90 pupils on how to stay safe online. Quickline has also worked with nine further education providers to provide 2,100 students with digital skills and literacy courses.

Other initiatives range from career mentoring and CV advice to mock interview hosting and attending careers fair across the region.

QFutures has to date helped more than 2,500 young people, providing them with the digital and cyber skills which will lay the foundations for their future success.

Julie Holmes is Quickline’s Social Values Manager, and was appointed to lead the company’s QFutures programme.

She said: “Through QFutures, we have implemented a programme which will have a real, lasting benefit on the lives of so many young people living in deeply rural areas.

“We believe passionately in our responsibility as a rural broadband provider to make a positive difference in the communities we serve. 

“At Quickline, we’re helping tackle the digital divide which exists between urban and rural areas, and that stretches far beyond connecting isolated communities with fast and reliable broadband.”

Quickline also collected two other awards at the 2024 UK Fibre Awards.

Alongside winning the Best Community Support Project award, Quickline also triumphed in the Marketing Team of the Year and Sales or Commercial Team of the Year categories.

Those two awards recognised Quickline’s brand ambassador campaign featuring Yorkshire Olympians the Brownlee Brothers, and the impressive 299 per cent sales growth the company has seen in the last year.

Quickline is one of only a handful of providers across England to have been awarded multiple contracts under the Government’s £5 billion Project Gigabit programme.

The two major contracts – which represent more than £104 million in public funding – will see Quickline connect 60,000 premises across all four corners of Yorkshire.

The awarding of the Project Gigabit contracts will drive significant future growth at Quickline, as it powers ahead with its mission to connect the deeply rural communities which have been left behind in the fibre broadband age.

• To read more about Quickline’s two Project Gigabit contracts, visit www.quickline.co.uk/blog/news/quickline-awarded-second-government-contract-to-connect-thousands-of-homes-in-hard-to-reach-communities/.