Britain’s Labour Party wants to renationalize “British Broadband,” reported The Economist. The party is proposing a full fiber-optic upgrade for the nation to offer free connectivity to every citizen and firm.
Labour thinks state control could lift Britain in global fiber-optic rankings, and the government has already allocated $6.5 billion to the project.
The party intends to raise the kitty to over $22 billion and maintain the new network via a tax on technology firms that utilize the network for services.
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, compares the British Broadband project to the National Health Care Service. Another comparison is to Australia state-run National Broadband Network, which promises a high-speed connection to every home. However, critics call this initiative a “wasteful mess” as the rollout is taking longer than expected, and project costs have exceeded initial estimates.
When compared to other broadband rich countries — U.S., Canada, Japan, Germany, France, South Korea — Britain’s current broadband prices are reasonable. Although connections are not ultra-fast, they’re also not sluggish, according to The Economist.
December 4, 2019
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