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Comment by sek | Hacker News Reader

Yeah just got M-Net in January.

But we are blessed compared to the rest of the country.

Our genius federal government built the infrastructure first and then created a private monopoly who owns all of it. The worst of both worlds. The funny thing is they bought with all the money an US provider and are now the underdog over there.

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We can blame Thatcher for introducing wide-spread privatization for this.

20+ years ago BT offered the then thatcher government FTC in return for a 20 year payback period - they where turned down as competition would magically build a competing network.

And of course vast amounts of capital was expended in building a cable network all the operators of which got into financial trouble and effectively got brought out of bankruptcy which is how virgin got its current network on the cheap.

And thank her for what the competition has brought us. One of the fastest and cheapest broadband Internet that I know of.

Just some facts of pre-privatisation: it typically took 6-12 months for bit to install a landline when it was state owned. Now: 0-4 weeks. Not to mention how much cheaper it is £4.99 for a broadband line?! It's insane!

Well, the price difference is largely because the investion cost of building the infrastructure is long since paid back, so all that has to be paid for now is a little maintenance and customer service.

I recall visiting my grandparents in Wales many years ago. Something that was astounding was that they paid every time you lifted the handset (a dial-tone access fee?). And then paid some more, depending on where you called. International calls required booking in advance.

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