Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party have pledged universal, free broadband and a nationwide fibre buildout by 2030 if elected; they plan to renationalise parts of BT and tax Big Tech to pay for the fibre rollout.
BT under private ownership has been a catastrophe, especially the privatised, spun-out installation business Openreach, whose bureaucratic incompetence, arrogance, hostility and sheer, pig-headed idiocy make them seem like something out of a poorest-quality farce comedy. Labour proposes to re-nationalise this embarrassment of a company and make it pull its fucking socks up for literally the first time since it was privatised.
Boris Johnson’s Conservatives have pledged a £5b fibre rollout; Labour has priced the rollout at a much more realistic £30b (BT estimates the cost at £40b, but they also estimated my broadband speed at 20mbps and rarely delivered 5).
I am a member of the Labour Party and a proud donor to Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign.
The plan includes nationalising parts of BT – namely its digital network arm Openreach – to create a UK-wide network owned by the government.“We’re putting the money in and therefore we should own the benefit as well,” said the shadow chancellor.
He said the roll-out would begin with communities that have the worst broadband access, followed by towns and smaller centres, and then by areas that are currently well served.
A Labour government would compensate shareholders by issuing government bonds. He said Labour had taken legal advice, including ensuring pension funds with investments in BT are not left out of pocket.
Labour pledges free broadband for all [BBC]