BT’s rescue of TalkTalk from administration has not been without controversy. As the Government weighs up the pros and cons of the deal, it has (rightly) provided its strongest signal yet that it is open to exploring a safety net in the event of future operator failures.
With the US Government intending to withhold significant funds under its federal rural broadband expansion programme, the country will gamble with the affordability and longevity of what was billed as a generational investment in connectivity. We tell a cautionary tale for other jurisdictions considering a reshuffle of their public broadband investments.
With Brendan Carr set to take over the reins at the FCC, the regulator is expected to roll back red tape and prioritise global spectrum leadership. While we expect sweeping changes in consumer protection and net neutrality, Carr’s influence on broadband funding and tech regulation will be more limited.
Ongoing initiatives of antitrust reform have three things in common. Firstly, data is increasingly seen as an asset that can determine whether a market is competitive or not, and could represent a barrier to entry; secondly, authorities demand stronger powers to monitor big tech and act against them, sometimes even ex-ante; and thirdly, markets are increasingly seen as global rather than national in scope. But it remains unclear whether all governments will follow through with legislation.
