Independent probe into JT network failure

Wednesday 29 July 2020

An independent watchdog has launched an investigation into JT operations after a network blackout that caused problems with the 999 service earlier this month.

The operator’s network went down for a total of six hours on Sunday 12 July, during which time customers across the Channel Islands were unable to make calls, and suffered difficulties with broadband and internet services.

Engineers had to work through the night to get the Channel Islands back online after the outage hit internet, mobile and landline services, including 999 numbers, ATMs and airport check-ins.

At the time, the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority (JCRA), our sister island's watchdog, had been completing a separate investigation into system failures with the 999 service provided by JT and Sure earlier this year.

Pictured: Broadband services were affected across the island during the outage.

The JCRA has since decided to withhold the publication of its initial findings in favour of contracting telecoms specialists Cognitio Consultants to conduct a full probe into the technical issue, while also investigating the company’s governance and security.

As well as establishing what went wrong, Cognitio will be making a number of recommendations and suggesting what sanction, if any, should apply.

The investigation is expected to take two to four weeks. It is unclear how much it will cost, but the authority said it expects JT to bear the full costs.