November 18, 2019

In response to the Labour Party’s announcement that they plan to nationalise BT’s Openreach network and provide free full-fibre broadband to every home and business, ISPA Chair Andrew Glover said that the plan “exposes a fundamental misunderstanding of how broadband is delivered in the UK”.

Mr Glover said that Labour had “identified some challenges relating to broadband infrastructure”, but had “wildly underestimated the costs involved”. In Mr Glover’s view, the proposal would also “undermine the huge private investment and existing work already in motion to deliver nationwide access to gigabit broadband”.

In addition, and “[m]ore importantly”, the proposal “not only jeopardises the 600+ companies that use Openreach infrastructure but also those investing in alternative and competing networks to provide the services and connectivity that businesses and consumers throughout the country rely on”. Mr Glover noted that ISPA’s members range from small regional ISPs to household names with thousands of employees and said that it was “extremely worrying that Labour has given no consideration to how their plans would affect them”. To read ISPA’s response on its website, click here.