Year: 2010

The JT Group has opened a new data centre at Rue des Pres, making it the largest provider of data hosting services in the Channel Islands.

JT has equipped the Castle Quay development with the fastest broadband speed in the western world. The first residents are now moving into their homes in Castle Quay on the St. Helier Waterfront, and will be able to access 1Gb (1024Mb) speeds using fibre-optic cabling, on a trial basis. It’s been installed under the Gigabit Isles initiative, which is a part of the JT Group’s five year strategy, and sets the target of making the world’s fastest broadband speeds widely accessible to residential customers in Jersey.

1Gb broadband is 50 times faster than the next quickest speed which has just been launched by JT of 20Mb which will be available to more than 25% of Island households by the end of this year. Gigabit speeds provide far more capacity than any family could need with current technology; but with broadband requirements set to increase by a factor of one hundred every ten years, it provides considerable scope for technological developments in the future, and makes sure the JT network is capable of putting the Island at the forefront of the digital revolution.

“Launching our 1Gb fibre optic broadband connection at Castle Quay is a real landmark both for the JT Group and for Jersey as a whole”, says Graeme Millar, CEO of JT Group. “It means the world’s fastest broadband speed, with the possible exception only of Japan, is now available to residents of this development. Broadband is already changing the way we live our lives, and I think that change is only likely to become more significant in the future – making Gigabit speeds available to more and more customers is a key part of our strategy in order to allow the Island to fully benefit from all the internet has to offer”.

Fast broadband makes it much easier, quicker and smoother to download music or high definition movies, use social media sites or take part in online gaming, and for multiple users within the same family to use the internet at the same time. Gigabit speeds will also enable developments like IPTV, 3D TV and Super Hi-vision, which are all already on the way. Normally, broadband is provided to customers via copper cabling, which is capable of delivering a maximum of 24Mb speeds. Over the next 5 years, JT will gradually replace the copper cable network with fibre, at a likely cost of around £40m.

“The JT Group has made very significant investments in the local telecommunications infrastructure, and we are now seeing the benefit of that. From £11m in the Next Generation Network, to £8m in Project Liberty, and the planned £40m in fibre-optic cabling JT is making sure that Jersey has the infrastructure to deliver the requirements of its residents and businesses. We only launched our Gigabit Isles strategy in November, and I’m truly delighted to now be able to turn on the first Gigabit connection – it really is a sign of what’s to come”.

Andrew Barton, who is the Construction Director at Dandara commented: “We are delighted JT has been able to trial such a fast broadband connection at Castle Quay – It will be a real benefit to many residents to be able to access speeds of up to 1Gb. Castle Quay is designed to be one of the world’s finest residential developments, and to be able to make use of one of world’s fastest broadband speeds will only add to the experience of living there, which celebrates the best in modern living. Fast broadband is a vital part of that”.

Download this article

The JT Group (JTG) has announced its growth strategy for the next five years, setting out how it plans to grow the business, develop new opportunities for employees, and continue to be a valuable asset for the States of Jersey. The strategy runs from 2011 until 2016, and is the first delivered under the leadership of the new CEO, Graeme Millar.

The objectives of this strategy are threefold:

1. Gigabit isles

By 2016, JTG plans to deliver the world’s fastest Internet access services to Jersey. The Group has already begun to achieve this target, and is now offering up to 4 Gigabit services for business customers.

JTG has also invested £11m in developing its Next Generation Network (NGN) which is already increasing the Internet speeds available to Islanders, with further improvements on the way. The NGN programme is set for completion by Easter 2012, at which point 98% of households are expected to able to have at least 2Mb, and 65% able to receive up to 8Mb, broadband speeds. This will put Jersey in the region of 3 to 5 years ahead of the UK’s Digital Britain programme, which seeks to provide UK households with up to 2 Mb.

This project forms part of a wider programme of network improvements where the Group is replacing its current copper network with fibre, which is capable of carrying higher speed data. In terms of core network technology, this puts Jersey between ten and fifteen years ahead of the UK.

2. Creating a separate wholesale division

The days of being the only telecoms provider are now long gone. JTG has clearly established that it is “open for business” with other operators, and is already actively reselling its services to them, or making sure the right commercial arrangements can be put in place to enable access to its infrastructure. By focussing on developing and growing the wholesale division, JTG aims to provide its wholesale partners with even higher levels of service as well as access to an expanding range of products.

3. Developing partnerships

JT has already built an excellent relationship with some of the world’s major financial, IT and telecommunications organisations, such as BT and Telstra. Those partnerships have been developed though business originating in the Channel Islands, but there is now an opportunity to develop them further, both locally, and internationally, and broaden JTG’s reach into many more jurisdictions. Similarly, JTG is working with Virtustream (a global leader in “Cloud” based IT services) and Optimal (a specialist in the hardware and software maintenance market) in order to provide innovative services and secure significant cost savings for major companies.

4. Acquisitions

The market within the Channel Islands is finite, and it is therefore natural for JTG to look further afield for new business opportunities, particularly since the Group has already established excellent partnerships with companies who operate on a global scale. Similarly, JTG has already successfully delivered growth through acquisitions – in 2002 JTG bought Atlas Telecom and developed it into Wave Telecom in Guernsey. JTG also purchased Newtel Guernsey in 2009 in order to further expand into the data hosting sector. JTG will therefore continue to seek out suitable opportunities to grow through acquisition, with the aim of maximising its expertise and its investment in infrastructure, increasing the breadth and depth of its capabilities and reducing the cost of doing business.

5. Commercial approach

The last two years have seen huge progress in JTG’s transformation from its original cultural history as the States of Jersey Telecommunications Board to a modern commercially orientated communications business. But the commitment to continuing efficiency gains does not end there, and JTG will continue to work hard on its systems and processes to improve its productivity.

Future vision

CEO Graeme Millar, CEO of JT Group commented: “In order to produce this strategy we have looked imaginatively at the growth opportunities open to us, and looked further than the boundaries of the Channel Islands. Fortunately, over the years we have invested considerably in Jersey’s global connections in order to enable the development of the finance industry, and we can now use that connectivity and resilience to increase the scope and capabilities of the JT Group”.

“Many of our business customers tell us that the service we deliver to them is of the highest standard; because of that, as they develop abroad, there are opportunities for us to grow with them. In this way we are exploiting the considerable skills and expertise which we have built up within the team at JTG, and expanding our potential market”.

“The biggest threat to JT is standing still. We are now a leaner and more efficient organisation, and by following this strategy there is a huge opportunity for us to make the Channel Islands into a world class telecommunications hub for Europe, with all the benefit that will flow from that in terms of new opportunities for our staff, and greater economic return to the Islands. We are now well positioned both technically and commercially to make that happen”.

Download this article

JT has announced plans to trial broadband speeds which are up to 500 times faster than currently on offer, before the end of this year. The initiative is called “Gigabit Jersey” and would give the Island the fastest speed on offer anywhere in the world.

Delivering “Gigabit Jersey” will take a considerable investment in the Island’s infrastructure, and so will take up to five years to complete – but with trials beginning this year, JT plans to begin implementing it as soon as possible. Increasing broadband speeds by up to 500 times will revolutionise the internet user experience for both Islanders and for businesses. For example it would make the downloading of high definition movies much quicker and smoother, and facilitate vastly improved communication over the internet.

The investment in the Island’s infrastructure will see the transition from the old copper wire technology which will become obsolete, to fibre-optic cabling, which is capable of carrying hugely increased amounts of data.

Since it was incorporated in 2002 the JT Group has already invested £7m in an undersea fibreoptic cable (Project Liberty) linkin§ g the Channel Islands with the UK, as well as £11m to upgrade the fixed line telephone network. In that time the Group has also retuned more than £100m to the States in terms of taxes and dividends.

“Gigabit Jersey is about setting out our vision for the telecommunications future of the Island”, said the Group’s CEO Graeme Millar. “We’re not going to get there overnight – but the first step is to accept that we can do more, and then to set out where we want to get to. We will begin trialling speeds up to 500 times quicker this year, with the plan to deliver that speed to the vast majority of homes and businesses within the next five years”.

“To do that we will have to make further considerable investment in the Islands infrastructure – with the right support, and a stable regulatory environment, we will be able to do that. JT already has an excellent track record both of investment in Jersey and of making a substantial return to our shareholder, the States of Jersey”.

“The way people use the internet is changing rapidly, with so many more useful services being delivered online – Jersey can be a world leader in that, and JT plans to deliver the broadband speeds necessary to make it happen”.

Download this article

JT has welcomed the States decision to add e-gaming regulations to the updated Gambling Law. The decision allows the development of a new industry for Jersey which will be of real benefit both to the Island’s economy, and to its telecommunication’s infrastructure.

“JT fully supports the States’ commitment to diversify the local economy and we are delighted with this decision to include e-Gaming in the new Gambling Law, which will deliver significant economic growth opportunities”, said Tim Ringsdore, MD of the CI Division at JT. “We have been involved in e-gaming in Guernsey, through our sister company Wave Telecom, since 2007, and it has proved a very positive addition to the economy, and enabled the Island to rapidly grow its telecommunications links with the rest of the world. We have been calling for a similar initiative to be undertaken in Jersey too”.

In anticipation of the States’ decision, JT has invested more than £15m developing data hosting centres in order to provide the best possible environment for an e-gaming industry. This includes the recent approval for another new data centre due for completion in the next 12 months. The company has also made a multi million pound investment in the telecommunications links between Jersey and the rest of the world which now provide virtually unlimited capacity to accommodate industries such as e-gaming.

Mr Ringsdore added: “We are very confident in the future of this new industry, and the positive benefits it will bring to Jersey. This decision by the States supports the considerable investment we have made in the Island’s telecommunications infrastructure which now offers e-gaming firms a secure and resilient option for hosting their online services with access to as much capacity as they require to connect to the rest of the world”.

Download this article

 

Wave Telecom, the Guernsey based sister company of JT, has completed the acquisition of rival operator Newtel Guernsey. The official handover took place on 31 December 2009 and Wave has been in full control of Newtel’s Guernsey operations and staff since 1 January 2010.

The deal was first announced in August last year and although it is between two Guernsey based companies, as both Wave Telecom and Newtel Guernsey are subsidiaries of Jersey registered companies – JT Group Ltd. and Newtel Jersey respectively – approval from the JCRA, Jersey’s regulator and competition watchdog, was required before it could be finalised. This was granted in mid-December, clearing the way for the purchase to be completed.

Tim Ringsdore, Managing Director of both JT and Wave Telecom, said: “This deal makes excellent strategic sense as it allows us to combine Wave’s market leading mobile services with Newtel’s strong position in the residential broadband and business services markets. It is great news for Guernsey customers as we will be able to combine the best elements of all services and offer even greater value for money.”

A key part of the deal is the inclusion of Newtel’s data hosting centre located in St Peter Port, Guernsey. Data hosting services are one of the fastest growing markets within the telecoms sector and the deal will confirm JT Group as the largest provider in the Channel Islands, with three centres in Jersey and two in Guernsey, with ultra high-speed fibre optic cables linking all centres to the core telecoms network.

Mr Ringsdore added: “We are delighted to have ended the year with such an exciting and positive deal and one that underlines our strategy for overall growth in the Channel Islands. We very much look forward to welcoming our new customers and staff to the Wave team.”

Download this article