Broadband is once again a hot-button election issue. But would state control be beneficial to Britain?
a former state-owned monopoly, was in the early stages of upgrading its copper wires to fibre-optic cables. Its plans were scotched by the Conservative government of the day, worried that it would damage the competitiveness of other firms in Britain’s newly liberalised telecoms markets. Three decades on, broadband is once again a hot-button election issue. The opposition Labour Party wants parts ofto be renationalised—and a full fibre-optic upgrade to be completed.
It is true that some of the speediest nations have been more willing to spend and to prod private firms than Britain has, which for decades has relied on opening up’s core network so that other firms can piggyback off it as the main mechanism to improve standards. But wiring up a rich microstate like Singapore or San Marino is a doddle compared with doing the same in sparsely populated Scotland. So is hooking up flats, which are more popular in continental Europe than in Britain.
Perhaps the closest comparison would be with Australia’s state-run National Broadband Network, which also promises a high-speed connection to every home . It is late and its costs have risen from A$30bn in 2013 to A$51bn today, which is 2.6% ofBritish broadband is not quite as awful as the fibre figures imply . Different comparisons of broadband speeds give different results, though most put Britain behind other rich countries. On the other hand, prices are reasonable.
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