The Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority (JCRA) has instructed Cognitio Consultants (Cognitio) to conduct a full governance, technical and security investigation at JT Group (JT) following the total failure of JT’s domestic and international telecommunications network on Sunday, 12th July (outage).
JCRA has received an initial report from JT about the outage, which blacked out the operator’s entire network for more than six hours, during which time customers were unable to make calls, including 999 emergency calls, or access any broadband or internet services.
JCRA was already completing an investigation into other system failures affecting the 999 call service provided by JT and Sure under the terms of their operating licences and was preparing to publish its conclusions when the outage occurred. The Cognitio investigation will seek to establish, as part of its terms of reference, whether there is any link between the two issues.
Tim Ringsdore, CEO of the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority said: “This is a matter of significant importance. Citizens and consumers must be able to rely on a robust, well managed, resilient and secure communications network. This is also essential from a national economic and reputational perspective. We will thoroughly investigate the outage as well as the previous problems uncovered with the 999 call service and whether Jersey’s primary telecommunications network is fit for purpose and is fully compliant with the terms of its licence”.
Stephanie Liston, Chair of the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority, said: “The Board has reviewed the initial report provided to us by JT and considered the recommendations of our officers and legal advice. Working closely with the Government of Jersey, we have concluded that this investigation is critically important to the citizens and consumers of
Jersey. The resilience of Jersey’s communication services nationally and internationally is fundamental to our safety and economic growth”.
The Authority’s decision is supported by the Government of Jersey. Constable Len Norman, Minister for Home Affairs commented: “I appreciate that JT has assured States’ Members it will conduct an internal review but I believe it is also essential to give the public confidence that an independent, transparent investigation is carried out by the Authority to establish what went wrong, why and what actions are necessary to prevent a recurrence. I fully support the Authority in its investigation, which is in the best interests of the Island’s government, economy, citizens and consumers”.
The Cognitio investigation will begin immediately and JT has confirmed its full co-operation with the investigation team. Under the terms of its Operator’s Licence the cost of the investigation will be borne by JT.
Image by Pete Linforth
