“Through our connection with Beyon, Sure is a global business”

Sure is investing millions of pounds in local connectivity backed by the global knowledge, expertise and scale of the Beyon Group.

 

Access to greater scale benefits customers

Being part of Beyon gives Sure access to a scale that would otherwise be out of reach for an island-based tech provider. Operational advantages like more efficient procurement ultimately benefit Sure’s customers, as does the ability to share knowledge and best practices with a ready-made peer group.

When Cyrille Joffre, Sure’s COO, was planning the integration of thousands of Airtel customers into Sure’s systems he was able to share his project plan with other COOs and CTOs across the Beyon group with extensive experience in this specific type of technically challenging project.

“Instances like that prove the immense value of being part of the group,” said Alistair. “Cyrille and his team had other people to bounce ideas off and act as a sounding board. Everyone at Sure is inspired by being part of an ambitious group.”

Sure’s sizeable investment programme has the full backing of Beyon. £100m will be spent across the Channel Islands and Isle of Man over five years to build world-class networks that are the backbone of connectivity and our increasingly digital lives.

Andrew provided the context: “Sure spends about £1,000 per capita in the islands. Extrapolate that to the UK and you’re talking about what would be £60bn. That level of commitment illustrates the scale of our ambition and the impact that we believe world-class connectivity has on driving prosperity. The result will be networks that are fit to serve people on the islands.”

Building the future together

In Guernsey, Sure’s fibre roll out is nearing completion with more than 90% of properties having access to upload and download speeds of up to 2Gbps. More than seven in 10 properties are already connected and high customer experience scores demonstrate the difference that fibre is making.

Andrew is impressed: “The team have done an amazing job of rolling out fibre here and equipping Guernsey with the network it needs to compete and thrive in the digital economy. It’s inspiring to see the team work at such pace and with the challenges of island geography, it’s quite an engineering achievement.”

Having a culture that is focused on always improving keeps Sure searching for the next development that will benefit customers – whether that’s network investment, 5G or an ever-evolving local Cloud service for businesses. Sure and Beyon are aligned in their ethos that they will not sit still and will continue to enhance the offering to increase the scope of what customers can do with digital solutions.

Complementing fibre networks and bringing comparable speeds for islanders on the go is the next generation of mobile technology – 5G.

Beyon has built and successfully runs 5G networks in other jurisdictions so Sure will be able to consult this expertise on best practice, with the work being carried out by local teams.

“5G is going to bring faster speeds and greater coverage across the islands and be a leap forward in mobile connectivity,” said Alistair. “Across the Channel Islands the combination of Sure’s and Airtel’s networks will create the islands’ largest mobile network, resulting in significantly better coverage for customers.

“Our teams are getting ready for the roll out now and we’ve appointed a well-known, experienced vendor. This is another significant investment for us and it’s one that will deliver the world-class connectivity that people want and need to live their best digital lives.”

Technology is the foundation for others to build on

Alistair and Andrew agree that despite how exciting they find technology, it’s what people do with it that really counts.

“Working in tech means staying ahead at all times,” said Alistair. “What we’re doing every day is thinking ‘what’s Sure’s role in helping the islands stay, and become even more, innovative, and then we actively develop the ideas and knowledge that will make that happen”

“That extends to working directly with governments, schools, businesses and individuals. Everyone uses our networks – we’ve got about 200,000 customers across the islands – so we need to allow them to capitalise on the foundations we’ve put down – that might be through AI, Cloud, or building layered 5G networks.”

With world-class networks backed by a global group with specialist expertise and experience, Sure is forging ahead with its purpose to connect our island communities for a better future – an exciting, tech-enabled, collaborative future that is closer than you might think.