JT has today restated its claim to be the fastest after winning an independent award presented by internet speed-testing firm Ookla for the second year in a row.
But Sure is disputing the claims after earlier this month a survey commissioned by the Channel Island’s competition regulator and carried out by Regulaid found that it had download speeds twice as fast as other operators in Jersey and Guernsey.
JT, on the other hand, said that the Regulaid results showed that JT had much better uploading speeds and, while Sure’s network coverage was branded as ‘variable’, JT’s was recognised to be ‘more consistent’.
A statement released by JT yesterday said: ‘Results from all networks across the islands were analysed by Ookla, which runs Speedtest, the world’s most popular internet performance testing service.
‘Consumer-initiated test results using Speedtest by Ookla confirm that JT has faster speed scores than any of its competitors.’
The statement adds that Ookla is the ‘globally recognised leader in internet performance testing’ and that the tests were carried out between April and September.
Daragh McDermott, director of corporate affairs at JT, said: ‘JT has invested tens of millions of pounds in our 4G and fibre networks across our islands, so it is pleasing to receive a third-party endorsement confirming our investment is having a positive impact.’
Jamie Steven, executive vice-president of operations at Ookla, congratulated JT and said that the firm was ensuring that the Channel Islands remained at the ‘leading edge’ of the digital revolution.
But Sure’s chief marketing officer, Alistair Beak, said that the tests carried out by Ookla were less comprehensive than those carried out by the Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authorities, and were also less independent.
‘The CICRA test conducted about 30,000 tests in Jersey and 35,000 in Guernsey, 4,500 of which in each island related to speed of data network,’ Mr Beak said.
‘The Ookla test was by comparison hundreds of tests and mainly carried out on JT’s network.’
Ookla says that 80 per cent of the world’s internet service providers use Ookla and that it has carried out more than ten billion internet speed tests to date.
