Guernsey Press

'Mobile competition OK as long as it's sustainable'

MOBILE phone providers from the UK would be welcomed to the island by local companies, as long as the competition they provided was sustainable.

Published

Yesterday, watchdog the Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authorities, announced it was in talks with UK providers about bringing services to the Channel Islands, as a response to the lack of free roaming being

offered to islanders.

UK companies, such as O2, EE, and Three, could offer much cheaper services on the island, thanks to their larger customer bases, which has raised concerns with at least one of the local

providers.

Ian Kelly, the CEO of Sure, said it always welcomed competition within the island markets, but only if it was in a sustainable form.

'Sure and the other local operators have all invested tens of millions of pounds in building world-class mobile and broadband networks and other services that directly benefit all consumers and businesses in the Channel Islands,' he said.

'The fact that we cannot currently access the EU roaming rates that underpin the recent developments is something that we will continue to work on.'

Economic Development president Deputy Peter Ferbrache also said competition was innately good, but only if it did not undercut local business.

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