JT Group Limited is the parent company of several subsidiaries including Jersey Telecom Limited and Wave Telecom Limited. Jersey Telecom is the former monopoly operator in the Bailiwick of Jersey. JT provides telecommunications, Internet access and other services, mostly within the Channel Islands.
History
In 1972 legislation passed in Jersey, which led the States of Jersey to take over the country’s telephone exchanges from the British Post Office. A state monopoly was formed through the Telecommunications Board in 1973, and remained under state control until 2003, when the market was opened to competition. In 2002 JT was granted licences by the Office of Utility Regulation to operate fixed and mobile telecommunications services to, from and within the Bailiwick of Guernsey and was known as Wave Telecom. The following year in 2003, Jersey Telecom became a private company, though it remained under 100% ownership by the States. In 2006 the States of Jersey Council of Ministers proposed the sale of JT Limited. In 2008, following comments in the Scrutiny report and market uncertainty, the Minister for Treasury and Resources decided to withdraw the proposition. In November 2006 JT then announced that it was to install a new high capacity optical submarine cable from Dartmouth to L'Ancresse Bay on the north west tip of Guernsey. In 2009 Graeme Millar, formerly Chief Commercial Officer of Mobile TeleSystems, the Russian mobile operator, became the CEO of JT. In April 2010 JT relaunched its Next Generation Networking programme which had run into technical difficulties the previous autumn. In September 2011, Jersey Telecom changed its name to JT. The following year, in 2012, JT acquired Worldstone. In September 2014, JT began work on a £12m 4G network in Jersey. The first masts went live in February 2015 and full Island coverage was reached three months later. On 28 March 2014 JT partnered with Fon and the service became available to JT broadband subscribers connected to fibre in 2016.
Digital sandbox
In 2018 JT began partnering with Sony in order to test its newly developed Low-Power, Wide-Area Wireless Network technology, for use in the Internet of Things where low speed data links are utilized. That year JT also partnered with ZTE to bring a 5G network to the Channel islands. Both deals are a part of JT's and Jersey's role as a "digital sandbox", for testing new telecommunications technologies. That year JT was named Digital Company of the Year award at the Jersey TechAwards.
Operations
Wave Telecom
JT Group has operated in the Bailiwick of Guernsey since 2002 through the subsidiary company "Wave Telecom Limited", a wholly owned subsidiary of the JT Group, which was later renamed JT with the rest of the company's properties.
Internet connectivity
JT Fibre
JT Fibre is a fibre to the home service, was initiated with a budget of £41.5m with £20m provided by the States of Jersey. The first homes were connected in February 2012. The project ran into difficulties in 2013 due to a dispute between JT and contractors and JT established a new subsidiary to take the programme forward. In November 2015, JT admitted that the project was behind schedule and could finish three years after its 2016 completion deadline. In January 2017, JT announced that the work was 70% complete. The project was delayed as the result of services having to be provided to additional new homes that had been built since the project began. Completion was targeted for late 2018, when it made Jersey the world's only jurisdiction to provide fibre-to-the-home data delivery available to 100% of residents, making it one of the world's fastest networks.
In the early 2010s, JT created the Gigabit Isles project, in order to spread access to FTTP broadband to the full population if the Isles region, at various data rates.
Community involvement
Between 2005 and 2016, JT was main sponsor of Jersey Live. In Guernsey, it has been principal sponsor of the Cobo Bay Hotel Summer Balcony Gigs since 2012. In 2016, JT ran a 'Summer of Music' in Guernsey, sponsoring several events, including JT Market Rocks in Market Place, The Gathering Festival, Chateau De Son Electronic Music Festival, Proms in the Bay and Junior Battle of the Bands. In 2017, they sponsored House Events, a Guernsey-based events company who brought to the CI events such as House on Herm, Rock on Herm and Sunset on Herm. In 2016, JT employees raised £25,410.98 for baby-related charities, including Jersey Friends of SCBU and the Priaulx Premature Baby Foundation. Fundrasing events included a Staff Charity Day and a 'Join Together' free music concert in Guernsey. In 2017 JT’s chosen charity is Jersey Alzheimer’s Association, in Jersey and Guernsey Alzheimer’s Association, in Guernsey. In September 2017, ten members of staff skydived over St Aubin’s Bay in Jersey, raising £1,000 for Jersey Alzheimer’s Association JT has been the principal sponsor of National Coding Week since its inception in September 2014. It is one of two Platinum Sponsors, alongside CodexCPD, the training and development business owned by the founders of National Coding Week, Richard Rolfe and Jordan Love. In October 2017, JT announced the results of its 2017 Directory recycling campaign. 25 Jersey primary schools collected over 8,000 telephone directories. JT donated a touch-screen tablet computer for every 150 directories collected.
