The new 'Phone tax'

MothballsWallet

paperclip4201 wrote: »

So you'd rather virgin invest it in themselves and have a monopoly, then have competition meaning it's gonna be cheaper?

I take it you think virgin trains should own the tracks, as opposed to network rail then?

Virgin Media already have a monopoly on cable TV in this country, and our government did nothing to stop them.

Same with Sky - they have a monopoly on satellite TV in this country, and our government also did nothing to stop them.

moneysavingkitten

I thought BT were supposed to have finished their 21st Century Network by now, but progress seems have slipped back and back. I thought BT were supposed to be doing this anyway, I don't see why we should pay a tax for it.

And if we do have to pay a tax for it, I think it should all happen much much quicker. It would create a lot of jobs. We are already eons behind other countries in Scandinavia, US, China and Japan in terms of Internet speed. By the time we catch up with where they are now, in 8 years time, we will be nearly a decade behind in terms of Internet speed.

We already have very few different kinds of industry left in this country, I think we have been done a great injustice being held back from making proper use of the Internet, when it could help the ecomomy and new businesses greatly.

http://www.btplc.com/21CN/Theroadto21CN/Keymilestones/Keymilestones.htm

At least they seem to have updated their website since the last time I checked, but even by March 2010 the progress made won't be anything like orginally said.

It seems like BT has been a monopoly for so long, with no competition in sight, what motivation do they have to get this done quickly for their customers? I don't understand why they are allowed to be such a monopoly, if they are not a government owned company any more. Has the compeition comission ever looked into this? Do they actually do anything?

bunking_off

You're comparing apples & pears.

21CN is more about replacing the core of the network to latest technology. It is running badly behind schedule, indeed on the voice side of things it hasn't progressed beyond the Pathfinder trial in Cardiff. It has hit approx 40% coverage on broadband, though. In brief, 21CN allows up to 24Mbit/s broadband, versus the old kit was up to 8Mbit/s. However, the rollout co-incides with LLU areas, so other providers were already providing that anyway.

The next generation access investment is about providing fibre to the street cabinet or to the home, which dramatically increases access speeds. Where that's rolled out, the core network will also be 21CN.

However, the "broadband tax" isn't about that : it's about those areas where broadband speeds are <2Mbit/s, ie rural or long urban tails. Idea is the £6/year goes towards a fund that providers (inc BT) can draw down on to provide access in those areas where it's uneconomic to do FTTC/FTTH otherwise.

Given telecoms industry objections to acting as tax collectors and tory opposition, chances are it won't ever happen (or will be revoked once the government changes).