By: MarkJ - 18 March, 2010 (1:13 PM) - Score: 2036 - Fixed Line Broadband

Those living on the islands of Guernsey, Alderney and Sark look set to benefit after Cable & Wireless Guernsey (C&WG) announced a major broadband network upgrade to its Bailiwick’s wholesale operations. Broadband users on the islands can initially expect speeds to double, with even faster performance to follow.

From 1st May customers of all local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) could get up to double the broadband speed for the same price. All 2Mbps residential broadband lines will be enhanced to 'up to' 4Mbps and all 4Mbps lines will be upgraded to 'up to' 8Mbps. We note that the 8Mbps service will not be upgraded until the next stage of the programme but the current wholesale price of 8Mbps is to be reduced by 37%.


C&W last upgraded Guernsey’s broadband network in 2008 from 1Mbps to 2Mbps and has been busy rolling out new street boxes (MSAN's) closer to population centres. Sadly some 5% of households will not be within reach of the improved network and no timetable has been set to resolve this problem.


Residents will no doubt be pleased at the news and C&W claims to be investing more than £1 million per year into its access network for ongoing network maintenance and upgrades. However it is still many years behind mainland UK, where up to 8Mbps ADSL based broadband products have been common for quite a few years.