Senator: Break up JT and nationalise the network

Friday 13 October 2017

Politicians in Jersey are being asked to break up JT to create a single state-owned telephone network, partly as a way of stopping the spread of “imitation tree” phone masts from spreading across the island.

In a proposal put forward yesterday, Senator Sarah Ferguson called for the telecoms company to be restructured into two separate bodies – retail and infrastructure.

 ‘JT Infrastructure’, would involve all telephone networks having to transfer their towers and equipment to the new body to be then shared among them.

The move, she argues, would allow Jersey to have a “properly competitive retail sector for telecommunications” and help all networks reach areas where they might previously provide poor coverage.

Senator Ferguson told Express: “We have three telecoms companies doing retail, and they’ve all got different frequencies, which mean that there are certain parts of the island JT doesn’t work too well, certain parts Airtel don’t work, and certain parts Sure don’t work too well… Would it not be better to have a wholesale organisation which has contracts with the three suppliers and rationalises the number of mobile connections?”

Moreover, she argued that sharing equipment would help curb the spread of masts across the island – of which there are already more than 200 – when 5G is introduced.

Pictured: Senator Ferguson argued that the island upgrading to 5G could multiply the current amount of masts - over 200 according to CICRA - by up to nine times. She thinks that the creation of 'JT Infrastructure' will help to avoid this.

“If we have the same arrangements when the next upgrade comes along then we’ll need something like nine times as many masts. We’re going to have a mast under every tree… How many imitation trees do we want in the island?”

Once JT has been split, Senator Ferguson would like to see the retail operation either sold or floated on the stock exchange so that “Joe public can buy a share or two.”

“The state should hang onto the wholesale side, because that’s where the money’s going to come from in the future – the prospects for that are much brighter than the retail side,” she explained.

JT currently makes over 60% of its revenue from business outside of the island. While Senator Ferguson acknowledges that investing outside of Jersey is lucrative, JT shouldn't be allowed to do it without States approval, and should be forced to sell off their current international business. 

“What is their mission? Have we sat down with them and said, ‘What should you be doing?’ As far as the States go, they just want as big a dividend cheque as possible, but should we be having an international retail company? I think 60% of the profits come from overseas, which is jolly good, but is that really what it was set up to do?”

If successful in her plans, the restructuring of JT would see Jersey mirror the approach taken by Ofcom to BT in the UK.

So far, the Senator has not consulted with other networks on her idea, but says that they should be willing to cooperate with the suggested changes, which would mean handing over all of their equipment. 

“There’s a bit of negotiation to do obviously because the other companies will have to buy into the fact that we’ll have one wholesaler in the island. We’ll have to do some sort of arrangement with them, but whether you sell them a share in the company or take a contract with them, the point is that you have to bring them into the wholesale side somehow. There’s a lot of very clever accountants here and I’m sure they could work something out,” she said.

In response, a JT spokesperson stated: “It’s a matter for the shareholder [the States of Jersey].” 

Sure said that they welcomed “constructive debate on the shape of the island’s telecoms industry”, but added that they felt the proposition “lacks the clarity of detail needed to fully understand its scope and the implications of the changes being suggested.” 

“As it stands, the proposition does not specify how the separation would be achieved. It also doesn’t provide timeframes or an indication of the resources that would be needed to fulfil the aim of the proposition. 

“Once clarity on these matters has been given, it would be in the best interests of the island and the industry to fully engage in consultation with stakeholders, including other operators, customers and the regulator, CICRA, before States Members ultimately debate and vote on the matter,” a spokesperson said.

Airtel-Vodafone said that it would “study and evaluate Senator Ferguson’s proposition to the States regarding JT”, but argued it would be “unfair” to comment further on the issue at this stage.