JT Claims the Fastest Mobile and Broadband in the Channel Islands

Telecoms operator JT, which serves the English Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey, has today hit back at its rivals by using the latest data from Ookla’s Speedtest.net service to try and prove that they offer the fastest 4G mobile and fixed line broadband service on both.

The announcement comes shortly after the UK Advertising Standards Authority banned two press and a poster advert for JT on Guernsey because they were said to have “misleadingly” claimed that the provider offered the “fastest [4G] network” (here), although the ASA found a number of flaws in the comparison.

Understandingly JT wants to rectify that by highlighting Ookla’s more extensive database (the tests were conducted during H1 2016), although it’s not clear how many tests were performed. In the words of JT, “Ookla’s results are widely trusted by regulators, trade groups and analysts and are used by virtually every major mobile carrier and internet service provider in the world.”

Jersey – Fastest Fixed Line ISP

We should point out that Ookla has a tendency to weight their results toward the positive side and strip out a greater proportion of slower tests, although they do perform this equally for all operators.

Daragh McDermott, Director of Corporate Services at JT, said:

“In many ways, this information by Ookla confirms what we already know: that JT has, beyond question, the fastest 4G and broadband networks in the Channel Islands. Recently, competitors have tried to cast doubt on that fact by complaining about our advertising but Ookla’s results simply endorse what customers have been telling us for a long time.

JT has invested tens of millions of pounds in our 4G and fibre networks across our islands so it is pleasing to receive a third-party endorsement confirming our investment is having a positive impact. That said, we can never rest on our laurels and as the island’s only locally owned provider JT will continue to invest to ensure that Channel Island residents and businesses have resilient, reliable and speedy communications now and for the future.”

At present JT is still busy rolling out their new fibre optic networks across the island and Jersey is currently set to become a “fibre island” by the end of 2018, completely replacing all copper lines with fibre.