Here's the big problem with Labour's broadband plan: what happens when people want to pay more for a faster service than the "free for everyone" offering, but can no longer do so because other players have been driven out of the market by the State's monopoly?
Already today some select cities have access to gigabit ethernet, others to speeds of 500Mbps or 350Mbps. All are significantly above the 100Mbps that is being used to define ultrafast broadband. But if the companies offering those speeds get pushed out of the market, game over?
In the next 2-5 years, private firms have plans to bring near gigabit speeds to over 10 million UK households. But all those plans may be put on hold if Labour dives in boots-first and disrupts the market (not in a good way).
If the price of everyone getting a minimum broadband service is that it also becomes the defacto maximum they can get, that seems too hefty a cost to pay.
