Very different issues in South Yorks

You can never say anything with a PLC is certain, even BT could be bought by someone and the direction changed. USC/USO would mean some time to take effect. Or more likely another buyer for Liberty Global across whole of Europe.

There are several FTTP operators around so if one was to go to the wall, then buying assets and customers would be an attractive thing.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

There are several FTTP operators around so if one was to go to the wall, then buying assets and customers would be an attractive thing.

I wonder what the exit plan is for the groups providing funding into these operators. I wonder how many are in it for the long-term income from subscribers, and how many are in it with the aim of being taken over by Liberty Global/VM or Sky, or somesuch.

We certainly see that new-build fibre is starting to appear with an initial lock-in to a TV service (usually Sky), so it wouldn't surprise me for retro-fit FTTP operators to end up going down a similar path.

of course the risk is always there for the business. If Worldcom can go under no-one's safe.

But as far as the consumer goes I don't see the risk. The worst that can happen is that the customer has to go back to their old BT broadband. But as long as there's an opportunity to get something better then I struggle to see a downside. The alternative is to be guaranteed to stay at a snail's pace