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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND RESOURCES BY SENATOR S.C. FERGUSON
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 10th JULY 2012
Question
Will the Minister, as the shareholder representative, advise whether Jersey Telecom's fibre optic line customers were unable to make a fixed line call to the emergency services during the recent power cuts and, if so, outline what options are under consideration to remedy this situation to ensure that in the event of a power cut vulnerable members of our community are able to make calls and, if emergency batteries are to be supplied, who will meet the costs – Jersey Telecoms or the consumer and has this been included into the overall cost of installing the fibre optic line throughout the Island?"
Answer
JT customers were able to make fixed line calls to the emergency services during the recent power cuts if they had a battery backup installed. However, the kinds of cordless handsets currently used by the vast majority of households also need electrical power for the telephone line to work so to that extent there is no difference between the fibre optic network being rolled out and the legacy copper network that it is replacing. From a network perspective, as JT has invested in backup power supply for its fibre optic network, it continued to operate as normal during the recent power outage.
JT is currently working with interested parties to agree how to ensure that vulnerable members of our community are properly catered for and this may include providing battery backup for the equipment provided in their homes. The cost of providing backup services for vulnerable users was included in the business case as a cost to JT. Any other users who want backup units can buy them from JT or from other sales outlets.