UK’s Labor Party Promises Free Fiber Broadband For All, Paid For By Taxing Tech Companies

Only 7% of the U.K. has access to full-fiber broadband, according to the country’s telecommunications regulator. But now long-time Slashdot reader AmiMoJo writes: With a General Election next month the UK’s Labour Party has promised to give every home and business in the UK free full-fibre broadband by 2030. The party would nationalise OpenReach, which owns the existing copper network, to deliver the policy and introduce a tax on tech giants to help pay for it. The plan will cost £20 billion, but the opposition Conservative Party is promising to bring fibre to every home by 2025 for just £5 billion in partnership with industry. Either way the UK’s ageing, slow broadband infrastructure may be getting an upgrade. The party claims it would “literally eliminate bills for millions of people across the UK,” according to the BBC, with the Labor party’s shadow chancellor telling them that companies like Apple and Google “should pay their way and other countries are following suit.”