JT Opens its Fibre Optic Broadband Network on Jersey to Rival ISPs

The Channel Islands Competition Regulatory Authority (CICRA) confirms that JT Global has agreed to open up access for rival ISPs wishing to deliver services over their new Gigabit Jersey network, which is currently rolling out a new 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband platform across the Channel Island of Jersey.

The £41.5 million Gigabit Jersey scheme, which has so far connected more than 5,000 premises (here), is part-funded by public money from the islands local government and this requires that JT open up the new network to rival ISPs like SURE. Sadly the process has taken awhile to resolve.

Graham Hughes, CEO of SURE Jersey, said (BBC):

“Sure has remained committed to securing fair and equitable access to Jersey’s fibre network because it is the only way to provide all islanders with genuine competition and choice in broadband services.

This was set out in condition two of the funding arrangements for the scheme but disappointingly, JT has been unwilling to provide this until now and even then, has only done so following 18 months of negotiation.”

Meanwhile JT pointed out that it takes two to negotiate and accused SURE of being “disingenuous” in its criticism. Back in June 2013 SURE also accused JT of “only seeking to protect its own position by appealing the decision of the regulator to implement Wholesale Line Rental (WLR), to the detriment of local consumers“.

At the time of writing SURE hasn’t yet launched any new FTTH broadband packages of its own but they’ll begin contacting customers soon and then it will be interesting to see how their offer compares with JT’s.