Regulator’s survey says telecom services “improving… but still some way to go.”

Saturday 23 July 2016

The Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authorities say a recent survey shows local telecoms users think services are getting better.

It’s the fifth year CICRA has commissioned an independent survey.

1000 telecoms customers across the Channel Islands were asked to comment on their satisfaction with landlines, mobile telecoms, mobile broadband and fixed broadband services.

According to CICRA’s report: “JT is showing improvement in all areas and has achieved generally satisfactory ratings – comparable with Newtel in fixed broadband. However both JT and Newtel are still outperformed by Sure and Airtel.”

The report goes on to note: “Consumer satisfaction with landline services has increased compared to previous results for both JT and Sure - going up to 55% and 87%, respectively. Sure’s result is noteworthy given it only started offering exchange line services in June 2015.”

Other findings include: “Customer satisfaction levels with mobile telecoms are fairly consistent with previous surveys: Sure and Airtel achieved satisfaction ratings of 82% and 80% respectively and JT’s rating improved slightly to 58%.

Customer satisfaction with broadband telecoms is improving for Sure and JT with ratings of 81% and 44%, respectively. Newtel’s rating has declined marginally to 45%.”

Commenting on the report’s findings Charlotte Dunsterville, customer experience director at Sure says: “We are pleased with the results of the latest CICRA survey into telecoms services in Jersey, not least because we only launched our fixed line product a year ago. To have achieved a satisfaction rating of 87% within our first year of service is a testament to the hard work of our staff in ensuring that the complex roll out of fixed line services went as smoothly as possible.”

Daragh McDermott, Director of Corporate Affairs for JT Group believes: “It’s good to see that CICRA’s feedback on JT is steadily improving in Jersey… Our staff continue to work hard to make sure we do the best we can for our customers, and data such as this suggests that their work is appreciated by our customers. However, we are never complacent, and will continue to make improvements wherever we can.”

The survey also indicated that if  Jersey consumers had £5 more each month to spend on any telecoms service, faster and /or more consistent broadband (31%) and cheaper / inclusive roaming (27%) would be the top priorities.

CICRA director, Louise Read, says: “Operators have continued to make improvements since the last survey and we’re pleased with this continuing upward trend. However there is still a way to go - especially with the levels of satisfaction in fixed broadband services.”