More detail needed on JT split proposal

Senator Sarah Ferguson has called for the States-owned telecoms company to be restructured and divided into a retail and a wholesale/infrastructure body. She has lodged a proposition calling on Treasury Minister Alan Maclean, who acts as shareholder representative for the company, to split the organisation.

Her proposition came after Senator Maclean revealed that he was considering selling off States assets, such as JT, to replenish the Island’s rainy day fund. He estimated that selling JT to a private firm could raise between £300 million and £400 million.

However, the Council of Ministers, in official comments responding to the proposals, have said that a detailed telecoms strategy is due to be brought before the States in the early part of 2018 and that the Senator’s plans lack detail.

The Council of Ministers said in its report: ‘This proposed Telecoms Strategy will be brought to the States in early 2018. It will be evidence-based, fully consulted upon, and the financial implications understood and identified.

‘That is the time when any decisions about the future of JT should be considered.’

The comments added: ‘It is difficult to understand how the States Assembly can realistically consider this proposition and approve such a narrow and prescriptive Telecoms Strategy based, as it is, on such a brief and non-detailed report.’

Senator Ferguson’s one-page report is coupled with a two-page proposal for how the Telecoms Strategy should work. The Senator’s proposals argue that the wholesale and infrastructure side of the business, which focuses on delivering new technology and telecoms infrastructure, could see ‘significant future growth’ and should be retained, but that the retail side of the business can be sold off.

The proposition had been due to be debated last week. However, Senator Ferguson delayed the debate until the new year and it is now due to be debated on Tuesday 16 January.

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