Re: Roll on some competion
" OpenReach will only end up connecting the masses by being heavily subsidised by the taxpayer."
Not necessarily. Openreach spends a lot of money maintaining copper (and that FTTC network is expensive too - lots of kit to power). FTTP is demonstrably cheaper to operate, has less issues to worry about, and guarantees universal service. They also have the advantage that the fibre laid for FTTC can be repurposed for an FTTH rollout.
It's also a necessity to make 5G live up to the hype - small cells closer to homes - so there's the prospect of getting the mobile operators to pay for lots of new backhaul links.
That's why they're going in that direction. I can tell you that in my area, not at all desirable for cherry picking purposes, and with no other form of last mile "competition", Openreach have been spending cash putting in G.fast and FTTH. Neither of these are part of a state subsidised rollout - everyone can already get 30+Mbps FTTC, and none of our postcode areas appear on the list for state funded expansion.
Gigaclear are having issues of their own, Cityfibre operate as a "fibre to the press release" company. If there's USO cash to go around, perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to give it to Openreach...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
