@Requiem 597027 wrote:
The original phone network was built by BT when it was a public company wasn’t it?
Yes; it was called Post Office Telecommunications for much of that time; British Telecom only started being used as a branding in 1980 (the year my sister was born).
During the first stage of privatisation Thatcho miraculously expected loads of companies to want to cable up a small country and got a nasty surprise when only one competitor appeared or could be created (Cable & Wireless who were themselves once a subsidiary of the Post Office) and C&W cherry picked London and the cities.
One thing that the EU has had for years and the Yanks were whinging about was the Universal Service Obligation (what they call “common carrier laws” which meant that a telephone company is obliged to provide service to every part of a country).
Most other nations have not split the biggest telephone company into the infrastructure and retail divisions which creates an obvious conflict of interest; what we have in the UK isn’t perfect (Openreach do not have the resources to cope with demand and the market isn’t providing them either; the fibre circuits where I work were subsidised by the Council) but its a lot better than many other nations; even those which were once ahead of the UK but refused to consider any market interventions.
On this note I wonder if one reason Mr Obama is now supportive of medicinal cannabis sales (and knowing his country is notorious for diversion of pharms anyway) is that in the countries where decrim has been carried out; the taxes gained are being spent mostly on health and social care?
