For the last two years, Quickline has been leading a £6 million project to boost rural connectivity in North Yorkshire, England’s largest rural county. Mobile Access North Yorkshire (MANY) has also been testing how superfast connectivity can help boost tourism, tackle social isolation and act as an early warning system for flooding emergencies.  Other MANY partners include North Yorkshire County Council, a number of specialist small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and the universities of York and Lancaster.

Ian Smith, Quickline’s new Chief Technology Officer, has spent the last four years as Programme Director for the Government’s 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme.  He is now responsible for all of the 5G strategy for Quickline, including vendor selection, adoption and how the company’s services are deployed to customers.  He said:

“This is a great opportunity to hear directly from other 5G projects and fellow programmes involved in the DCMS testbeds around the country as well as to share what we have done as part of the 5G testbed in North Yorkshire.

We’ll be passing on what we’ve found and implemented, reflecting on our learnings and what this means for 5G as a whole. We will also be looking at how we can implement further innovation to reach even more customers that have been left behind in the digital rollout.”

The UK 5G Showcase is fully supported by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and will feature over 30 5G projects around the UK.  As many of the 5G Testbeds and Trials are coming to an end, UK5G and DCMS want to celebrate their achievements and outcomes and highlight the considerable challenges that have already been overcome, while looking ahead at what progress still needs to be made.