Michael Byrne, chief executive of the Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authority, said that he has been disappointed with the low level of response to the survey, with just a quarter of the total number of participants required to make it viable signed up so far.
The majority of those who have said they will take part in the survey – which is designed to identify issues with broadband provision in both islands and to make suggestions where improvements can be made – are from Guernsey.
Mr Byrne said that CICRA needs at least 500 more people to ‘make the study viable’ and is encouraging Islanders to participate.
He added: ‘We frequently come across feedback from members of the public, offering their perceptions on how broadband services could be improved orsimply wanting to understand the issues involved.
‘This study was commissioned as a response to this, offering a way to formally document this feedback and potentially lead to positive change.
‘If a formal study highlights a justifiable set of issues, CICRA can influence change through setting standards or reaching out to policy makers and customers. We cannot do this based on anecdotal evidence alone.’
The study is looking at the services of all fixed network broadband providers in the Channel Islands, which includes JT, Sure and Newtel.
Mr Byrne said that without ‘properly researched feedback’ from broadband customers it would be impossible for CICRA to explore ways to improve these services.
He added: ‘It would be a shame to abandon the project altogether but if we look at this from another perspective, we could infer that the majority of Islanders are completely satisfied with their broadband services and therefore have no need to report their feedback.’
Islanders can register their interest by logging on to CICRA’s website.
The 2015 broadband performance study
Following on from our recent surveys of customer satisfaction levels, the Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authorities (CICRA), are undertaking a fully independent and objective study into the quality of broadband services experienced by Channel Islanders.
Fixed-network broadband services are delivered to customers through copper, fibre optic and WiMax technologies by JT, Sure and Newtel/Ytel/Homenet.
Services delivered through 3G and 4G mobile networks are not part of this study. The aim is to identify issues, understand their causes and, where possible, identify the challenges to improve the experience of all broadband customers across the islands to better meet with needs.
The results of the study will be used to inform local operators and the governments of the Islands where improvements could be needed.
They plan to be collecting data in May and June and publish their report in July.
How will the study be conducted?
They will measure the broadband network performance of 1,000 volunteers who will be distributed across the Channel Islands, the three broadband service providers and the various broadband technologies.
Selected volunteers will be asked to install a small software package on their computers which will mimic typical internet usage, measure the results and report to a central database from where the results of the study will be collated, assessed, and a report produced at the end of a two month data collection period.
At the end of the study the software can be uninstalled. The software will generate approximately 75Mbytes of traffic per month.
CICRA is partnering with Actual Experience plc for this study.
Actual Experience specialises in the measurement and analysis of networks and it is conducting similar work in the UK for Ofcom.
Source: www.cicra.gg
