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> Why? Unfair competition from the state, with limitless pockets, driving them to bankruptcy. > Wasted or invested? Wasted when finally repealed, or lost to

• tomelders 7y ago
  > Unfair competition from the state, with limitless pockets, driving them to bankruptcy. Nope. The competition can still sell a better service, and can pass the free tier on for free. Also, ISPs sell bundled services, such as SIM cards or media packages. They can continue doing that. > Wasted when finally repealed, or lost to lack of maintenance. Nope. Invested. If some future government wants to throw that investment in the bin, that's on them. > Taxpayers The Tax Payer already invests in the infrastructure and get's nothing back. > No competition. Lack of incentives to improve the network. Nonsense. This isn't a monopoly. If anything, the infrastructure in terms of ground works will make it cheaper for private companies to run their own cables to people's houses, offering superior bandwidth.
  • bassman9000 7y ago
    It will be a monopoly once companies have gone bankrupt. * If some future government wants to throw that investment in the bin, that's on them.* No, that's on the taxpayers. Politicians never pay the cost.
  • mytailorisrich 7y ago
    I must say I am shocked to read this on HN. There won't be competition because broadband will have to be free and it will also be a monopoly (what else?). They won't stop there because they want a socialist economy. 5G? State-monopoly and 'free', etc. How can seemingly smart and educated people in 2019 not understand and see what these guys are? They don't even hide it. Just ask Eastern Europeans, they know.
    • NeedMoreTea 7y ago
      They've said the plan is to nationalise OpenReach. That's the commercial wholesaler, who provide the fibre, the cabinets, the kit in exchanges. As the article notes, ISPs will have the option to keep going continuing to use OpenReach's infrastructure, now nationalised and named British Broadband. So all that's changed is the supplier of the pipes. How does that kill competition, enforce a monopoly, and ripple through into 5G - which is the mobile companies and nothing to do with OpenReach? For someone complaining of everyone's lack of smarts, you seem to have very little awareness of what is actually proposed. The sad thing is, BT invented a lot of the kit that enabled fibre. Much of the research whilst they were still a nationalised utility, and proposed to roll it out 100% in the 80s. That was FTTH not FTTC. Thatcher stopped it. The tech was sold off to the companies they now buy from.
      • mytailorisrich 7y ago
        No, the plan is to nationalise broadband with 'free' service to all. There would be nationalised infrastructure and a nationalised service provider to consumers. The Labour manifesto: "We will establish British Broadband, with two arms: British Digital Infrastructure (BDI) and the British Broadband Service (BBS)." This is both infrastructure and retail. That by default enforces a monopoly and kills competition. Even if it is not made illegal to do, what company can compete against free? McDonnell publicly stated that private providers would be allowed to continue, but [1]: "Mr McDonnell said that if other broadband providers did not want to give access to British Broadband, then they would also be taken into public ownership." This is a non-existing choice in reality. It's either go bankrupt or be nationalised. Obviously this is just the tip of the iceberg considering all the other nationalisation that they have already publicly proposed. It would have a ripple effect to 5G, and perhaps even a direct effect (nationalisation). At the moment the reaction has be muted because the market does not think they'll be elected. But if they are then I predict that the stock market will immediately crash (on Friday 13th December, of all dates...) [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50427369 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50427369
        • NeedMoreTea 7y ago
• deleted 7y ago
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