Re: Ask the VOA how they calculate BT's rates ...
BT don't have any reason to take a proper survey of what they've got whilst the status quo favours them. VOA really need a kicking over this - if you must have differential taxation it should be favouring small competitors, rather than the large monopoly suppliers. At least that way it stimulates competition. Maybe levy double rates for companies which fail to provide a detailed assessment of their deployed assets (i.e. BT and Virgin)?
As far as incentivising investment, how about VOA setting the business rates on copper connections 10x higher (adjust as necessary) than the equivalent fibre would be. Might get the big fibre rollout question to change from "How long can we sweat the existing assets?" to "How much can we save by replacing this crap immediately?".
Biting the hand that feeds IT
