Re: @AndrueC
The only ways that this can be overcome is by re-nationalizing Openreach
I think there is a middle way between that and full capitalism-red-in-tooth-and-claw - social enterprise
Nationalised industry with a monopoly theoretically should be a good thing for a utility. No paying profits to shareholders, no duplication of facilities /resources. Potentially the monopoly makes it fair to impose universal service obligations. In practice it's usually a disaster. The managers think they have a job for life, and decide that the sole purpose of the business is to give them a cushy number. Then the government interfere by telling them what to do (and change minds frequently) and also panic about money and starve investment.
So. How is social enterprise better? Think a mutual or a co-op. A socent Openreach would be a business, a legal company, but with rules that ban private shareholding and require the directors to work for the benefit of the customers. They will be able to raise money in the market through loans and bonds the same as any other business, and they would have to service the loans, but their only interest in life is providing a good service or the customers will demand a change at the top. There are various options for governance, customer-directors etc. It's not perfect, but tends to be better than the other extremes.
It works pretty well for Welsh Water.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
