Labour is planning to offer free broadband for all by 2030. Several problems:
- Millions of people subscribe to Virgin Media, and they will have Gigabit-capable cable laid to nearly 15 million homes before end of 2020.
- Many millions more are on smaller but fast-growing services
- Millions of people subscribe to Virgin Media, and they will have Gigabit-capable cable laid to nearly 15 million homes before end of 2020.
- Many millions more are on smaller but fast-growing services
- Way before 2030, what qualifies as "fast broadband" will be unrecognisably different to today. It may be 5G (which we already have many competing providers for) rather than fixed, for example. And it will be speeds of 500Mbps+. So "fast" will mean something very different.
So it's as if they're proposing buying and running the world's best network of horses in a world of cars. A very costly and complex network of horses, no less.
If you think about it a bit further, the worst possible sector bar none to nationalise is the tech sector. There is no industry that moves faster, and therefore that needs the impetus of robust public competition.
A completely different solution could be to say "Well, the average broadband contract costs £30 a month, so we're going to gift everyone in the UK that amount from taxes raised on XYZ, and say 'it's for your broadband'" but leave the market alone.
Or increase the funds being made available for firms to provide coverage to the last 5-10% of residents outside major cities, and get a dedicated team to overview it being spent quickly and efficiently rather than let the companies drag their feet and waste it.
Sad thing is, this is probably one of Labour's worst ideas (and there's some *strong* competition) yet also the one most likely to resonate with the public. That's the danger of going hard on the populism, and relying on most people not being across the details. Sound familiar?
