The popular UK Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey look set to benefit thanks to a mix of current and future "super-fast" broadband upgrades (aka - 'Gigabit Isles'), with Guernsey in particular benefitting from a major fibre optic and Mobile Broadband enhancement.

First up is Jersey, which will receive a significant upgrade to its telecoms network between December 2010 and 2012. Customers on Jersey Telecom, Sure and Newtel should see their maximum broadband speeds rise from 8Mbps and reach up to 20Mbps. Some 25% of homes are expected to benefit by December.

The move is part of a huge Next Generation Network (NGN) investment programme by the JT Group (JTG), which also owns Wave Telecom (Atlas Telecom) on the island of Guernsey. The group plans to spend £11m upgrading its broadband infrastructure, which covers both islands and will run from 2011 until 2016.


The JT Group hopes that its efforts will deliver one of the world's fastest broadband networks in Guernsey, which will see further fibre optic development efforts over the next few years. Island trials of the HOME fibre optic service are expected to begin in early 2011.

Guernsey will also benefit from an enhancement to its existing Mobile Broadband infrastructure, which should push the maximum HSPA speed from 7.2Mbps to 14.4Mbps before the end of this year. However it's not clear what kind of average speeds customers already experience; similar upgrades in the UK have produced no perceivable benefit, with average speeds remaining at only a little over 1Mbps.