Could Jersey's broadband investment make it easier to use IP telephony services?

Superfast broadband on Jersey could be a realistic prospect for the coming years after the government announced it is investing £19 million in the technology, the BBC reports.

The Channel Island is home to numerous online companies and it may be that these can take advantage of good business broadband services once the cables are installed.

JT is the firm challenged with installing the infrastructure and it said all customers will be offered speeds of one gigabyte per second.

This kind of connection is likely to make communications services, such as IP telephony, much more reliable and capable.

Chief executive officer Graeme Millar told the broadcaster the development was a "huge step forward" for Jersey.

"It is a technology change on a par with the move from an analogue to digital TV signal."

The firm added it would shortly be announcing a development plan, in order to set out how all businesses and consumers will be able to make the switch to fibre cables by 2016.