Can you imagine if Trump was suggesting state control of US broadband? @doctorow would be the first to protest. He was outraged at the risk of the UK state potentially knowing who used porn a few weeks back, but is fine with them owning everyone’s entire browsing history.
I also can’t see how this is remotely legal under EU law, which explicitly prohibits state aid in situations where there’s competition. In the UK previously, that meant government could help pay for fibre rollout in rural areas, but not in urban ones. Particularly when this would see the state using tax money to out compete Virgin etc in urban areas, and the (all Europe wide) 5G companies, I can’t see how it can be legal.
That would be fine if Labour were campaigning to leave the EU, but they pretty much aren’t, as far as anyone can tell.
