Guernsey Telecoms Faces Uncertain Future

Robert Lee, Tax-news.com, London

16 October 2000

Guernsey Telecoms (GT) is facing an uncertain future because no global telecommunications company is interested in taking over its business. The three presidents of the Advisory and Finance Committee, Board of Industry and Telecoms Board "strongly refute" any suggestion that GT is in jeopardy and that the jobs of GT employees are at risk, but the unstable situation within GT certainly has implications for Guernsey's development as a centre for e-commerce.

Management at GT recently called a meeting confirming that anticipated interest in the company from world players had failed to materialise and that the future of GT had been taken out of their hands. At the beginning of the year, KPMG was appointed as consultant to assess the level of interest from global telecommunications players. It approached a number of companies which were mainly UK-based but the reaction was only "lukewarm". GT's management said the disappointing response was due to Guernsey not attempting to push itself to to the forefront of e-commerce. A spokesman at the company said: 'When we heard that, it was not a surprise. A small telecom was never going to be an attractive opportunity, if that’s all it was.'

The States of Guernsey have, quite predictably, disagreed with GT over the status of the company and the notion that Guernsey is not pushing forward down the e-commerce road. The Advisory and Finance Committee, Board of Industry and Telecoms Board issued a joint press release, in which President of the Telecoms Board Mike Burbridge expressed his satisfaction with the way things were progressing. The statement also said that it was 'vital to the Bailiwick’s future wellbeing that it secures world class telecoms services in order to continue to attract and develop e-commerce business, support the local economy and provide competitive services to local residents.'

Management at GT would prefer to see the company fully privatised, rather than split up, having mainly local shareholders and linking up with a number of major companies to provide the company with the technology and facilities it needs.

Ben Marshall of Connect, which represents the majority of GT staff, attended the recent meeting and commented: 'There’s quite a significant debate about the future of Guernsey Telecoms. What the union is saying is that the best way to progress is to progress with the support of Guernsey Telecoms and its staff, so that there’s a consensus about the future of telecommunications in the island.'

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