Labour has promised to give every home and business in the UK free full-fibre broadband by 2030, if it wins the general election. The party would nationalise Openreach to deliver the policy and introduce a tax on tech giants to help pay for it.
Matthew Howett, Founder & Principal Analyst at Assembly comments:
“This is a spectacularly bad take by the Labour Party. The almost cut throat competition between broadband rivals has meant faster speeds, improved coverage and lower prices for consumers up and down the country.
The current government, and independent regulator Ofcom, have spent the last three years incentivising alternative operators to BT to deploy faster fibre technologies. Companies such as Virgin Media, CityFibre and others have committed billions to rival Openreach. Those plans risk being shelved overnight.
Only one other country in the world has come close to going down this route, and for a good reason – it’s hard, expensive and fraught with difficulty. Australia’s NBN is years late, massively over budget and offering speeds and technology a fraction of the original political intention.”
