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The island’s competition watchdog has extended a consultation into the proposed merger of Sure and Airtel.
The JCRA last summer found that the planned buy-out “was likely to substantially lessen competition in Jersey’s retail mobile market”.
Weeks later it put its review on hold, pending further information from both firms.
Sure has since submitted several commitments that it believes will reduce the impact on competition, in particular the entry of a so-called mobile virtual network operator – the Channel Islands Co-operative – which would maintain the number of service providers at three.
MVNOs are common in other jurisdictions, such as Tesco Mobile in the UK, but this would be a first for Jersey.
In a statement, the JCRA said: “The authority has initiated a four-week consultation through which it is seeking views from interested parties on whether the full commitments package offered by Sure has the potential to address the authority’s competition concerns.
“The views provided will assist the authority in its decision whether to refuse to approve the merger or approve it with conditions.”
The consultation can be found HERE.
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