JT Plan £80m Rollout of 5G Mobile on Jersey – Channel Islands

State-owned ISP JT (Jersey Telecom) has announced that they are planning to invest £80 million in order to roll out a new 5G based ultrafast mobile broadband network across Jersey (English Channel Island), which is to be deployed using Ericsson’s technology (radio kit etc.).

The deployment will also see JT’s existing 4G network, which is based off kit from Chinese firm ZTE, being replaced (such kit is now seen as a security risk by the UK government and other countries). The contract will also deliver mobile network modernisation and upgrades to JT’s CORE, Radio Access Network (RAN) and Managed Services networks.

“As well as offering improved speeds and security, the network modernisation will bring improvements to voice quality on mobile calls, more bandwidth for mobile users and improved coverage,” said the otherwise vague press announcement.

Daragh McDermott, CEO of JT Group, said:

“We are delighted to be working with such a well-known and respected company. Communications technology never stands still, it’s a rapidly changing environment but as with the roll out of fibre, we need to stay ahead of the game and this programme will provide the transformation and leap in technology now required to meet the future demands of businesses and consumers.”

At the time of writing, there’s currently no information on the rollout plan or timescale for this deployment, although JT claims that the new network will be “up to 100 times faster” and that’s not impossible, given how they’ve already blanketed the whole island in full fibre (FTTP) cables.