Study Highlights Rising Broadband Prices on Guernsey and Jersey

A new report from Jersey Statistics (PDF) has revealed that, between 2020 and 2024, the average monthly spend by fixed broadband customers on the English Channel Islands of Guernsey went up by 16% to £86.55, and on Jersey it increased by just under 8% to £82.17. But over the same period, inflation on the islands went up by 27.3% and 30% respectively.

The same report (credits to the BBC News) also revealed that Guernsey had 41.6 broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, while Jersey saw 42.3 (the same as in the United Kingdom). Furthermore, broadband users on Guernsey gobbled an average of 400GB (GigaBytes) of data per month (up 12.2% from 2023), while on Jersey it was 431GB (up by 8.8%) – this is less than the UK average of 531GB (rising to 766GB when only looking at full-fibre connections).

However, it’s worth remembering that broadband ISPs are not immune to cost increases. Internet providers, much like consumers, have also been suffering under the burden of rising supplier and lease costs, surging inflation, high energy prices, as well as the cost of adding all sorts of new services (e.g. FTTP) and catering for new regulations etc.

On the flip side, while consumers in the UK can often tackle price hikes by switching providers, it’s much more difficult to do that on a smaller island where incumbents often still dominate.