JT Jersey has revealed that its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network rollout has reached a notable milestone, with the telco reporting that 1,000 homes are now signed up to its fibre-based services. In a press release revealing the development, JT has claimed that the figure ‘exceeds expectations and proves demand among Islanders who are keen to take advantage of the benefits of fibre broadband’. In terms of those customers that have taken up FTTH services, JT notes that 1% have opted for the top-level package, the Gigabit service, which offers downlink rates of up to 1Gbps. Further, it also has revealed that 3% of its fibre customers are signed up to its 100Mbps product. Meanwhile, with regards to the network rollout itself JT has said that its ‘Gigabit Jersey’ project is progressing on schedule, and it said it now categorises 15,000 properties on the island as ‘Homes Passed’ (i.e. ready for connection), while installation has reportedly gotten underway with a view to connecting a further 8,000 properties. The Gigabit Jersey project involves replacing JT’s existing island-wide copper network with fibre-optic cabling and it is due for completion in 2016, at which date every household is expected to have access to the in-deployment FTTH infrastructure.
Commenting on the progression of the project, Dave Newbold, Chief Operations and Technology Officer at JT, noted: ‘We are pleased to have surpassed the 1,000 [subscriber] milestone and announcing our first Gigabit customers is a real landmark in our Gigabit Jersey programme … The fibre trial was the first phase of our three-year programme and enabled us to gain valuable learnings ahead of our island-wide rollout. With this completed, we are now rolling out fibre on an area-by-area basis, with the aim of establishing a point-to-point network by 2016.’