JT On An International Stage – A Year Of Evolution And Growth

A Part Of Guernsey’s Digital Future

Paul Taylor

Managing Director, JT Guernsey

For over two decades JT has worked with local technology and infrastructure providers, to deliver resilient, stable and secure IT services, pioneering new technologies and deploying a range of leading products and services across the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Never more so were those partnerships and our resilience more tested than in the past year.

Since we signed contracts with Agilisys, just over twelve months ago, we have delivered:

Transforming Guernsey

We are extremely proud to have been selected to be a part of the programme, managed by Agilisys, that began in 2020 to transform Guernsey’s digital services. The 10-year SMART Guernsey Partnership now forms an essential pillar in the Bailiwick’s strategy to move forward out of the pandemic. The next twelve months will be critical for Guernsey to achieve its ambition of digital transformation. We will be working on providing a fully operational, modernised voice and data network for the States of Guernsey using leading-edge technology, which will be a sustainable, long-term solution to the Bailiwick’s needs.

Public Wi-Fi at the ports and other key public sites, facilitating the critical Track & Trace programme

Increased the bandwidth to all States of Guernsey sites on JT Fibre to 1Gb speeds

Began the final process to upgrade internal cabling in States of Guernsey buildings

Supported Delivery of Digital Fortress - with JT hosting Government IT services in our Data Centres

In it together

Operating in small jurisdictions comes with a strong sense of community. During the Pandemic our people worked tirelessly to ensure the resilience and reliability of fundamental services, contributing to the continued well-being and economic activity of our Island. Like everywhere else we faced significant challenges when overnight we moved to online media briefings, virtual meetings, businesses moved to work from home and our children didn’t return to the classrooms.

As a business we were able to step up and provide support to our customers, ensuring they stayed connected with friends and family, and were also able to carry on working and learning from home. We made residential landline calls to local numbers free for our Coreline and JT One customers, and our JT Fibre broadband customers continued to benefit from 1Gb download and upload speeds.

We also provided support for our partners as critical behind-the-scenes systems were implemented as fast as possible, from the COVID-19 track and trace programme, to Travel Tracker and the vaccine programme. Digital technology kept the home fires burning, built from the ground-up in a matter of weeks and months.

Fibre network

With many people working from home intermittently or full-time, the demand for faster broadband is constant. A demand that had already been growing locally at a steady pace as the number of devices requiring higher bandwidths were becoming more popular. COVID-19 fuelled an even greater need for speed and extra bandwidth as it became an essential service for people to stay connected. The only jurisdictions that were able to meet that increased demand from users were the ones that had invested in rolling out fibre infrastructure, the only means of guaranteeing broadband speeds and levels of broadband quality is by having a fibre connection that runs all the way to the home or business.

Guernsey’s Government has highlighted the need to overhaul its telecoms policy with a heavy emphasis on digital connectivity. That commitment to provide a fit-for-purpose framework for delivering improved broadband and 5G connectivity is something we are very pleased to be a part of and welcome the opportunity of sharing our experience of having rolled-out fibre to all broadband customers in Jersey.

We will continue to work with the States of Guernsey, and the Broadband Working Group, to invest in the island’s digital infrastructure that will support the Island’s recovery. Guernsey can make a virtue of its small size and ability to make swift and far-sighted decisions; it can learn from elsewhere and build a fibre network which will be the backbone of the island’s telecom infrastructure for many decades to come.

Community

As part of Guernsey’s closely-knit community we are proud of our longstanding partnership with many local institutions and popular events, and look forward to once more in support of the local community and charities we represent and serve.