CK Hutchison’s merger of Three Italia with Wind Telecomunicazioni was approved only after the companies agreed to divest assets. More recently, regulators told Orange and MasMovil they had to grant spectrum and roaming access to rival Digi as part of their Spanish merger.

Howett says these remedies have “only compounded the problem” by allowing new entrants into the market just as the existing players are trying to consolidate.

“Where four to three has been allowed to happen, the remedies that you put in place have often just recreated the problem you’re trying to solve,” he says.

Matthew Howett, founder and chief executive of Assembly Research, argues that one of the key purposes of alt-nets has been to push Openreach to build its own network more quickly.

“That dynamic has played out already, it’s happened… so I think once they’ve lit that firework the vast majority of Project Gigabit will happen,” he says.

But telecoms are likely to push for further change. “They want more freedom to have a more commercial relationship with content providers,” says Matthew Howett, founder of consultancy Assembly Research.

That could, he says, see “operators striking deals with games makers to prioritise a particular update or traffic”.

And streaming companies argue they already invest heavily in technology that stops their traffic overwhelming mobile and broadband networks. “Netflix invests millions in content delivery networks to get its traffic to you,” says Howett.

Matthew Howett, a telecoms analyst at Assembly Research, said: “The coronavirus pandemic exposed weaknesses with the current set of rules.”

Starlink appears to have solved the issues of slow speed and inconsistent performance that have plagued satellite broadband. “The lower orbit nature of Starlink’s satellites should go some way to reducing problems of latency,” says Matt Howett, founder of Assembly Research.

Matt Howett, founder of Assembly Research, says: “To me it looks like they can see the potential upside from the enhanced fibre roll-out that has yet to be fully reflected in the current share price.

“I'd say the lack of a seat on the board is a fairly good indicator for now that Drahi isn't looking to embark on a change of direction.”

Assembly analyst Matthew Howett added: "While BT would have liked 20 years of no regulated prices for faster fibre products, they will take the certainty of 10 and the broad commitment to continue to honour that fair bet principle if there is a need to move to cost-based regulation in the future."

"The slowing down of the full rollout of gigabit capable broadband will impact productivity and cost tens of thousands of jobs,” said Matthew Howett, the founder of Assembly Research.

“If the infrastructure is not there to make the UK an attractive place set up shop then we miss out. That's really what we don't get back. That's gone for good.”

“5G depends heavily on 4G infrastructure.” says Matthew Howett, of Assembly Research. “Switching our Huawei for 5G will mean replacing some 4G equipment which would need to be added to that cost.” Assembly estimated the total economic cost would be £7bn.

Matthew Howett, an analyst at Assembly Research, said: “BT will want to keep hold of Openreach rather than divest fully given the huge advantage of it being an anchor tenant for their broadband service.”

Matthew Howett, an analyst at Assembly, said a merger of fixed line and a mobile firm was more likely to be approved by competition regulators than a merger of two mobile firms.

"If we end up in a situation where worldwide, 850m children start to receive lessons virtually for an extended period of time, then networks might want to start prioritising video traffic over gaming traffic," said Matthew Howett, principal analyst at Assembly.

Analysts warned that state control of Openreach could bankrupt rival cable providers such as Virgin Media, whose cable network covers half the UK, as well as TalkTalk and smaller challengers.

“What would the poin of their existence be?” said Matthew Howett, an analyst at Assembly. “They would fall away overnight. It would add to the lunacy.”

Some commentators have argued that Openreach needs a shake-up regardless. Customer satisfaction is low and there have been long delays launching faster broadband in the UK. Only around 10pc of the UK has access to full-fibre despite years of promises.

Matthew Howett, the principal analyst at Assembly Research, pointed to a similar approach in Australia which has caused delays for customers.

“Only one other country in the world has come close to going down this route, and for a good reason – it’s hard, expensive and fraught with difficulty,” he said. “Australia’s NNB is years late, massively over budget and offering speeds and technology a fraction of the original political intention.”