- Landline customers can now switch companies from JT to Sure, after the market was opened to competition
- Sure claims that they have more than 1,000 customers who want to move services
- But JT has argued back that it is taking a ‘responsible’ approach to the process
SURE says it wants to meet the Channel Island’s competition watchdog over what it claims is the ‘entirely unreasonable’ speed that JT has committed to processing customer requests to change landline providers.
Last week the home phone services market was opened up to competition, allowing Sure to become the second company to offer fixed-line packages in the Island.
The company’s chief executive, Graham Hughes, accused JT of ‘anti-competitive practices’ in May when the rival company announced that it was imposing a limit of processing 20 switch requests a day.
But JT says it is taking a ‘responsible position so that customers aren’t let down’ and that the switching over process will get quicker as the system ‘beds in’.
Mr Hughes has now demanded an end to JT’s cap, which he says has been created to act as a barrier for people to change providers.
And he has called on the Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authorities to intervene to ensure that action is taken.
‘It was clearly signposted that the market would be opening from 1 June, but we have already seen JT putting barriers up to stop people making their choice,’ Mr Hughes said.
‘We have more than 1,000 customers who want to come across, and at the current rate, some of them won’t be able to move for a couple of months. It is a very straightforward process to move people and only takes a couple of minutes. We are frustrated and disappointed that we are seeing limits being placed by JT.
‘We are in a situation where we are trying to get the cap removed. We want to meet JT and the CI Competition and Regulatory Authorities to ensure that this is resolved as soon as possible.’
In response, Daragh McDermott, JT’s corporate affairs director, said that there was ‘really nothing more to say’ following the publicity last month.
He added: ‘We were all working to an agreed process to open up the landline market this month, until Sure unilaterally started to raise customer expectations by suggesting the process to switch would be almost instant.
‘This is a new process, and so JT is taking what we believe to be a much more responsible position so that customers aren’t let down. The switching process will undoubtedly get quicker as it beds in, but at the start there might be a very short delay while the applications are worked through.’
He added: ‘Actually, instead of criticising JT, Sure’s time would be better spent getting its own system up-and-running properly; so it really is a little rich to read the headlines they are now manufacturing. Regrettably, they have turned what is an important event for CI customers into a war-of-words between two telcos, which is a shame.’
ISLANDERS are paying ‘significantly more’ for their landline telephones than their Guernsey counterparts, according to a report by the Channel Islands’ competition watchdog.
As a result of the findings, the Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authority is considering imposing new price controls on fixed-line services in Jersey.
The results of the consultation, which sought to discover what price controls may be needed on fixedline services, were published in March.
As part of the process, the prices JT currently charge for landlines were measured against other jurisdictions, including Sure in Guernsey.
The report found that JT’s retail prices were on average 33 per cent higher that comparative companies in Guernsey.
Price controls are used by regulators in markets where there is limited competition to ensure that customers are appropriately charged.
The last full price controls for Sure in Guernsey and JT in Jersey were set in 2008, initially covering a period up to 2011.
Since then, both telecoms providers have been subjected to yearly roll-overs and an interim price control. CICRA, alongside consultants Frontier Economics, launched the consultation to find out whether continued price controls are needed and, if so, to help determine what the price levels should be set at.
