Jersey Telecoms fined after island-wide shut down

Jersey Telecoms apologised for the breakdown

Jersey Telecoms (JT) has been fined £50,000 after a technical failure caused a shut down across the island.

The incident happened in July 2021 and meant customers could not make any calls, including to emergency services.

The Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority said the fine "reflects the seriousness" of the failures.

The authority also noted that certain factors relating to a previous Island-wide outage in 2020 also applied in this case.

The Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority (JCRA) welcomed the co-operation of JT in what it called "a long and complex investigation".

It added JT had committed to put in place a system of checks and balances that improved its infrastructure, process and procedures, and would help it to meet best practice going forward.

The JCRA said these mitigating factors were considered by the authority in calculating the appropriate fine.

Tim Ringsdore, CEO of the authority, said: "I am pleased that this investigation is now complete. It was essential that we conducted a root and branch review of how these failures took place and we have issued directions to JT which will involve JT continuing to report to us on their improvement programme over the coming years, which will help reduce the likelihood of any further recurrence.

"The licence contraventions were very serious, but we welcome the way in which JT's team has worked with us, and the measures it has taken to address the issues."

Tom Noel, of JT, said the company "fully accepted" the authority's decision.

Mr Noel said: "Since the occurrence of this issue in July 2021, we have worked closely with the JCRA to establish exactly what happened and have put in place all the measures we can to prevent an incident like this in the future.

"We fully accept the JCRA's decision and are now focused on ensuring our networks are as resilient as they can be."

JT chose not to contest the fine, which was therefore reduced to £45,000, and it has been paid.

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