This is ridiculous.<p>Mass deployment of broadband happened two decades after Thatcher left power and it&#x27;s not even clear that the technologies of the 80s would have been of much help for modern broadband.<p>I think three things are blocking the deployment of optic fiber in the UK:<p>1. Monopolies. Even with DSL, the UK was years behind France, which broke the monopoly of France Telecom before the UK, and let competition offer 1Mbit plus broadband (I think the early FT and BT packages were limited to 500kbit or 1mbit for commercial reasons).<p>2. Planning restrictions. As much of a problem for housing than for wiring homes with optic fibre.<p>3. Brits love tiny houses over apartment blocks which makes it very expensive to deploy even in urban area.<p>Happy to hear of better reasons from someone closer to the matter.<p>[edit] corrected shameful spelling mistakes