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The States has agreed to suspend the island's competition law on a temporary basis to allow Sure to buy Airtel Vodafone.
Deputy Neil Inder convinced a majority of States members to back the proposal yesterday, explaining that the Economic Development Committee had "identified beneficial outcomes in terms of improvement in network quality, including a commitment to establish a q-enabled network, enhanced network security, reduced environmental impact, and positive impacts on the economy in terms of further and sustained investment by Sure".
There was some opposition to the plan with Deputies Chris Le Tissier and Lester Queripel among those who said no to various amendments as the policy was approved.
The deal - allowing Sure to buy Airtel Vodafone across the Channel Islands - had already been agreed in Jersey, when Guernsey's States discussed it this week.
In Jersey, the Competition and Regulatory Authority approved the deal.
Here, the Economic Development committee led on the deal, bypassing the GCRA.
"...this is due to the differences between the two markets," explained Deputy Inder.
"In Jersey, the transaction would result in a roughly 50/50 market share in mobile services between Sure and JT, which is less market concentration than in Guernsey, where it would initially be 80/20.
"This means the JCRA is able to deal with the application in Jersey, whereas in Guernsey, the regulator indicated it was unlikely to be able to approve the acquisition due to the lessening of competition that would arise."
Pictured: Deputy Neil Inder.
Concerns over a lack of competition in the Guernsey market will be addressed when the Co-op enters the mobile market explained Deputy Inder, who said that move is imminent.
"...not only is it clear, the contracts have been signed, and they are ready to go within roughly 12 months," he said.
The Co-op entering the mobile telecoms market means there will still be three providers in Guernsey - with Sure, JT, and the Co-op meaning "absolutely nothing will change in terms of competition, nothing at all," he said.
"We will still have three mobile operators, one admittedly running on an existing network, which is Sure's, but it would be an improved network within two years.
"It is anticipated that JT will want to complete compete for new mobile customers, as will the new provider. And as a result, there will still be competition in the mobile market."
Concerns were raised during the debate about the precedent being set by temporarily lifting competition laws to allow Sure to buy Airtel, but Deputy Inder again convinced his colleagues that the deal should still be allowed to go ahead.
He said the law would only be lifted for around six to seven weeks to allow the purchase and then the law will be enforced again.
"The committee carefully considered the legal opinion when considering whether or not to proceed with proposing the draft exemption from the competition law. But the Committee concluded that, on balance, the wider economic and public policy benefits of the transaction going ahead, outweigh the legal issues raised.
"In coming to this view, the committee noted that some of the competition concerns originally raised by the proposed acquisition have been alleviated by the introduction of the MVNO with a clear commercial partner now in place, the Co Op, and that therefore there will still be three mobile telecommunication operators in Guernsey after the proposed acquisition, but eventually there will only be two networks.
"That's a significant difference, same competition, different brand, just two networks and a better network overall. It still is good news."
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