New powers and duties giving the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority enhanced responsibilities for safeguarding the Island’s critical communications networks and services have come into force.
The move follows recent amendments to the local telecoms law placing far greater emphasis on protecting against cyber attacks and resilience incidents. Recognising the potential impact any significant loss of service would have on consumers and business, the Government decided to follow the UK and other jurisdictions by introducing a strengthened telecoms security framework. With the final regulations coming into force on 1 June 2026, local telecoms providers must adopt new working practices, overseen, and if necessary enforced, by the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority (JCRA).
Under the new framework, providers have several significant new duties. These include reporting the risk and occurrence of incidents affecting their networks and services, improving network design and operation, implementing comprehensive risk‑management practices and applying rigorous third-party supplier standards. Providers will also have to adopt a new range of security measures designed to reflect best practice in security and resilience and demonstrate compliance to the JCRA.
JCRA Chief Executive Tim Ringsdore said: “This is an important step for Jersey’s telecoms industry. Recognising the critical role that communications play in the daily lives of islanders and in the operation of local businesses, the Government has decided to increase security and resilience requirements. The JCRA has worked alongside Government colleagues to help ensure the new security measures are appropriate and proportionate for the Island. We plan to continue this approach now that our telecoms security powers and duties have begun. Islanders and local businesses need to trust that communications will be secure to use and available when they are needed—our team is looking forward to continuing working closely with telecoms providers to ensure this is the case.”
