Case made for Jersey Telecom sale

The review group has given conditional approval for the sale

The sale of Jersey Telecom is economically justified according to a review group set up by the States.

The study group looked at whether customers would lose out under the proposed sale.

It has concluded private enterprises operating in a competitive and well-regulated market would provide the most efficient operating conditions.

The sell-off is expected to raise about £200m for the States and pave the way for competition.

However, the review group did list two conditions for a sale. The first was that a prospective purchaser had the finance available to buy and did not have to over-extend its credit to do the deal.

The other condition was that the sale should not be allowed to reduce competition.

This could affect existing operators in Jersey bidding for the company unless they are able to rearrange their business in a way which will maintain the island's competitive market.