While Labour’s plan to renationalise part of BT would be a disastrous waste of public money, which would not deliver the intended results, John McDonnell may have a point, the UK’s broadband is broken, the Telegraph reported. The Labour leader has said that he will “reassess” his position on the issue if it becomes clear there are better ways for Britain to get its high-speed internet access than through private companies. Ofcom estimates that around 619,000 homes and businesses are unable to connect to a line fast enough to stream video. Labour is right to argue that the industry needs to change, but nationalising BT won’t work the paper wrote. A better idea, that would not cost taxpayers a penny, and inject some long overdue real competition into the sector, would be to spin Openreach off into a completely independent, privately-owned company in which BT’s competitors could also be shareholders.
While Labour’s plan to renationalise part of BT would be a disastrous waste of public money, which would not deliver the intended results, John McDonnell may have a point, the UK’s broadband is broken, the Telegraph reported. Just six percent of the approximately 30 million properties in the UK have a full-fibre broadband connection compared with 90% in Portugal and 70% in Spain. Ofcom estimates that around 619,000 homes and businesses are unable to connect to a line fast enough to stream video. Labour is right to argue that the industry needs to change, but nationalising BT won’t work the paper wrote. A better idea, that would not cost taxpayers a penny, and inject some long overdue real competition into the sector, would be to spin Openreach off into a completely independent, privately-owned company in which BT’s competitors could also be shareholders.