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Democratic
                          Digital
                          Infrastructure

                          ­ homas M. Hanna,
                          T                                  Please print on
                          Mathew Lawrence, Adrienne Buller   recycled Paper
                          & Miriam Brett                     This PDF has been designed to
                          May 2020                           mininimize paper and Ink use.

                                                             Produced by Common Wealth
Democracy Collaborative

                                                             and Democracy Collaborative
Common Wealth &
Summary
                                                                                       £63 billion boost to gross value added by
Democratic Digital Infrastructure

                                                                                       2030 in the UK, and 360,000 tonnes fewer of
                                                                                       carbon dioxide emitted as a result of better
                                                                                       home working - are extraordinary. In order
                                                                                       to secure these benefits, we make the case
                                            The global spread of Covid-19 has          for democratic public ownership of the
                                    shone a bright spotlight on both the vital         foundational digital infrastructures of the 21st
                                    need for reliable high-speed internet and          century must be rooted in the following key
                                    the inadequacies of the for-profit, corporate      goals and principles:
                                    model in delivering it. This paper, the first of
                                    four modules on democratic public ownership         1. Provide full-fibre access to all,
                                    in the UK and US, explores the future of digital       overcoming the digital divide and
                                    infrastructure: the core assets and services           ensuring everyone is able to access
                                    upon which the 21st century economy and                high-speed, reliable, full-fibre based
                                    its vast array of information technologies             connection. Connectivity is a basic need
                                    rely. To accelerate and democratize digital            that should be met free at the point of use
                                    infrastructure development, new approaches             for all, with the foundational goods and
                                    to ownership and control are vital.                    services we all need to participate fully in
                                                                                           society made universally accessible
                                           While there are important differences        2. Empower citizens and workers through
                                    explored in this paper between experiences             participation, transparency, and
                                    in the US and the UK, both share at least              accountability, so digital technologies
                                    one important common thread: a market-led              can function as important tools to allow
                                    approach to digital infrastructure development         people to engage directly in decision
                                    predominantly undertaken by, and to the                making, and grant them a stake in the
                                    benefit of, an oligopolistic set of for-profit         world that the internet is helping to build.
                                    corporations. This, in turn, has created shared     3. Reduce corporate concentration
        2                           problems, from prioritising shareholder                and political power by replacing
                                    returns over investing in vital infrastructures,       for-profit corporations with democratic
                                    to undemocratic ownership and governance               alternatives.
                                    of essential services and digital redlining as      4. Link digital infrastructure to ecological
                                    companies cherry pick provision, excluding             sustainability and a Green New Deal, so
                                    poorer areas and marginalised groups.                  that digital technologies can play a critical
                                                                                           role in supporting new systems that are
                                            The result: the UK is ranked 35th out          efficient, resilient and decarbonised.
                                    of 37 countries assessed by the OECD for the        5. Ensure that people have control
                                    proportion of fibre connections in its total           and power over their own data, to
                                    fixed broadband infrastructure, and only 13%           develop an ethical data management
                                    of households have full-fibre connection. In           strategy, which establishes limits
                                    the US, 21.3 million people do not have access         as to what data should be collected,
                                    to the minimum speed broadband connection              as well as data sovereignty, privacy,
                                    while approximately 133 million people -               encryption, and collective rights to data.
                                    nearly half the country - do not have access to
                                    a connection with speeds of at least 250Mbps.               To secure these goals, we therefore
                                    In both countries, sharp digital divides in        propose moving in the direction of treating
                                    access and quality of connection have been         digital connectivity as a right and organising
                                    exposed by the coronavirus lockdown.               digital infrastructure – including the wireless
                                                                                       spectrum, cloud infrastructure, and the rollout
                                           We need to build a digital landscape        and maintenance of fibre optic connections
                                    that provides world-class connection to all,       and 5G – as a vital 21st century public good,
                                    is sustainable, privacy-enhancing, rights-         underpinned by democratic ownership and
                                    preserving, innovative and democratic by           governance. What follows are a series of
                                    design. The economic and environmental             policy recommendations for the UK and US
                                    benefits of such a transformation - from a         retrospectively to those ends.
logic should be reversed; indeed,the annual
                              —      Digital infrastructure policy               savings from eliminating dividends could
                                     proposals (United Kingdom)                  alone cover over 16% of the Capex required
                                                                                 to deliver full-fibre over 10 years. The cost of
                              A new public infrastructure company with           public borrowing for investment is notably
                              a mission to deliver a nationwide full-fibre       lower than for private companies, and is at
                              network by 2030.                                   near-record lows; to finance the remaining
                                       The UK government’s own analysis          Capex requirements, the public infrastructure
                              suggests a monopoly provider would deliver         company should take advantage, borrowing
                              a nationwide full-fibre network faster and at      to invest.
                              significantly lower cost than via "enhanced
                              competition" among an oligopoly of private                 Just as Gladstone nationalised the
                              companies. [1] To that end, a new public           telegraph industry and Asquith took the
                              infrastructure company should be created           telephone sector into public ownership, to
                              tasked with rolling out a 100% full-fibre          ensure universal coverage and access, so
                              network by 2030, based on taking Openreach         democratic public ownership can build a
                              (and the parts of BT Group relevant to rolling     foundational 21st century digital infrastructure
                              out the core network) into public ownership.       more affordably, equitably, and speedily than
                              A mission to connect the nation should             the alternatives.
                              be central to a post-covid recovery that
                              is prosperous and just, with a ‘retrofitting       Decommodifying connection
                              revolution’ building a 21st century digital                  Internet access should be organised
                              infrastructure. A portion of funding for           as a 21st century human right, recognising
                              investment could come from charging private        it is now foundational to our ability to lead
                              ISP providers for access to the network, just as   a fulfilling life in the digital age: to connect,
                              Openreach currently does. Rather than paying       communicate, play and work. The effects
                              dividends, the company should reinvest profits     ofcoronavirus - where a digital divide over
   3                          back into rolling out the network. BT Group        access to and quality of broadband has
                              has paid out over £53bn in dividends since         exacerbated social and economic inequalities
                              privatisation,[2] and over the past decade has     - have underscored the need to make access
                              seen its fixed investment and R&D spending         to broadband a right, not something delivered
                              fall as shareholder payouts have risen. This       primarily through the market. To that end, as
The Democracy Collaborative
Common Wealth &
part of an ambitious universal basic services         5G infrastructure must be planned
Democratic Digital Infrastructure

                                    agenda, the ultimate goal should be to make           strategically to support a just transition.
                                    full-fibre internet connection available to           The Committee on Climate Change
                                    all free at the point of use as a tax-funded          should advise the National Infrastructure
                                    public service. Once the UK’s full-fibre              Commission on the digital infrastructure
                                    network is complete, public ownership of              needs to reach net-zero rapidly and justly.
                                    the infrastructure - rather than by companies
                                    organised to maximise shareholder value - can     A British Digital Cooperative and
                                    enable connection to be organised based on        spectrum for the common good
                                    universal, decommodified connection, with                 To build a digital and communicative
                                    the operating and connecting costs covered        sphere based on democratic and egalitarian
                                    through general taxation.                         principles over oligarchic surveillance,
                                                                                      a British Digital Cooperative should be
                                    Ensuring accountability and democratic            established. A common property, owned
                                    control of digital infrastructures                collectively by all residents of the country, the
                                             As developed in Common Wealth's          BDC, as set out by Dan Hind, “would be tasked
                                    2019 report "Full Fibre Future: Democratic        with developing a surveillance-free platform
                                    Ownership and the UK's Digital Infrastructure",   architecture to enable citizens to interact
                                    the extension of democratic ownership should      with one another, provide support for publicly
                                    be accompanied by steps to transform the          funded journalism, and develop resources
                                    accountability and democratic control of          for social and political communication.”[3]
                                    digital infrastructure, including:
                                                                                      Building a public cloud infrastructure
                                    •   A new digital platform for debating                    With one likely effect of Covid-19
                                        and deciding National and Local digital       being the consolidation and the reach and
                                        priorities: With full-fibre guaranteeing      power of the universal platforms, the need
                                        equal internet access, an online platform     to challenge the power of ‘Big Tech’ will be
        4                               called WeDecide.gov.uk could function as      more urgent than ever. A critical element of
                                        an online space for everyone living in the    this is their dominance of cloud computing
                                        UK to debate and decide priorities for how    infrastructures, a source of both very
                                        digital infrastructures are used.             significant revenue and infrastructural power
                                    •   Funding and support for community             over the direction of the economy. First, by
                                        initiatives: Publicly-owned or cooperative    requiring major tech companies to separate
                                        "maker labs" and co-working spaces that       off their cloud infrastructure businesses and
                                        are broadly accessible, both to people of     then regulating cloud providers as key public
                                        different generations and socio-economic      utilities. And second, a public option ‘cloud
                                    •     groups, can help bridge the digital         infrastructure’ should be created and used to
                                        divide by supporting digital skills, such     host and perhaps process the vast troves of
                                        as database management and coding,            government data that already exist, and that
                                        as well as shared access to new               are continually being produced.
                                        technologies such as 3D printing and
                                        cutting edge software.                        —      Digital infrastructure policy
                                    •   An expanded regulatory framework                     proposals (United States)
                                        to monitor fibre-based technologies:
                                        The monitoring of and strategy for            Overturning state-level pre-emption laws
                                        fibre roll out to ensure equity of access             In order to ensure that local
                                        should be mirrored in considerations of       communities retain the authority to establish
                                        the potential harms of the technologies       publicly owned broadband networks if they
                                        built on top of fibre networks, including     so choose, we recommend passing federal
                                        invasive surveillance, social control and     legislation that ends state-level restrictions
                                        environmental damage.                         on public and community owned broadband
                                    •   Digit al infr as truc tur e to dri ve         networks at the local level.[4]
                                        decarbonisation: The installation
                                        and development of broadband and              Federal funding to develop and operate
municipal and community broadband                   trust dedicated to funding local, independent
                              networks                                            or public media and journalism.
                                     In order to increase access and
                              affordability, as well as reduce the power          A public option in the wireless
                              and control of large telecoms corporations,         communications sector
                              we recommend passing federal legislation                    In order to provide badly needed
                              that provides funding for communities and           competition in the wireless communication
                              municipalities that are seeking to build public     sector and provide accessible and affordable
                              or cooperatively owned broadband networks.          wireless broadband and 5G service to all
                                                                                  Americans regardless of geography and socio-
                              State funding and technical assistance              economic background, we recommend that
                              programs for municipal and community                the federal government create its own publicly
                              broadband networks                                  owned telecommunications company. The
                                      At the subnational level, we                existence of a “public option” in the wireless
                              recommend that state governments establish          communications sector could help address
                              funding and technical assistance programs           market failures, reduce corporate power and
                              to support the development of local, publicly       concentration, provide competitive pressures
                              owned broadband networks (and at the local          that would lower costs and stimulate
                              level, communities use these resources to           innovation, and generate revenue to cross-
                              educate the public and create new publicly          subsidize other needed public services and
                              owned broadband networks). The latter could         investments.
                              include educational and organizing support
                              for local communities and residents seeking         Break up big-tech and turn cloud
                              to establish public networks, planning,             computing services into a public utility
                              project management, backroom operational                     We recommend developing legislation
                              infrastructure, and help navigating state and       to break up Big Tech companies by specifically
                              federal regulatory requirements. Further, we        mandating that companies over a certain size
   5                          recommend that state governments direct             divest their cloud infrastructure/computing
                              public resources and broadband investments          business. Once divested, these services
                              exclusively to public, cooperative, or nonprofit    should be organized as decentralised and
                              entities.                                           democratically governed publicly owned
                                                                                  utilities.
                              Democratic public trust funds for wireless
                              spectrum auction proceeds                                    Another digital world is possible.
                                      At the federal level, we recommend          But delivering it will require moving beyond
                              Congress pass legislation directing that            the “regulatory state” and market-oriented
                              most, if not all, federal revenue derived from      approaches that have dominated the
                              wireless spectrum auctions be deposited in          development of digital infrastructure in the
                              a democratically managed public trust fund          US and UK in recent decades - and which,
                              or funds.[5] These funds could be organized         while delivering a rich stream of dividends
                              like the sovereign wealth funds that exist in       for private investors, have led to the slow roll-
                              numerous other countries (as well as several        out of fibre/broadband, increased corporate
                              US states) and invest (with appropriate criteria)   concentration and control, and a deep digital
                              in companies, real estate, and other assets.        divide. Instead, public policy should seek to
                                                                                  reshape how digital infrastructure is deployed
                              State and local trust funds to support local        and owned, moving from conditions of private
                              media and journalism                                enclosure to a digital commons.
                                      At the state and local level, we
The Democracy Collaborative

                              recommend developing legislation ensuring
                              that any local media station or company (either     The report authors would like to thank
Common Wealth &

                              public or private) receiving spectrum auction       Miranda Hall and Sara Mahmoud; this
                              proceeds in exchange for shutting down or           report builds on the principles and policies
                              consolidating operations transfer a portion of      of Full Fibre Future (2019), of which Hall and
                              those funds into a democratically managed           Mahmoud were co-authors.
1
                                                                                       minimum broadband internet connection
Democratic Digital Infrastructure

                                                                                       could produce annual economic benefits of
                                                                                       around $22 billion ($219 billion over 15 years).

                                    Intro
                                                                                       [7][8] Current infrastructures are not enough.
                                                                                       Put simply: a future of shared prosperity will
                                                                                       depend on building a 21st century digital
                                                                                       infrastructure - universal, affordable, and fast,
                                            Digital infrastructures are the core       based on a full-fibre network.
                                    assets and services upon which the 21st
                                    century economy and its vast array of                       However, in the UK and US, market-
                                    information technologies rely. They are the        oriented approaches to the development of
                                    modern equivalent of the interstate highways,      full-fibre infrastructures, with expansion led
                                    railway tracks, telephone networks, and            by private investment, has led to slow rates of
                                    electricity systems that were the backbones        fibre deployment and a deep digital divide that
                                    of 20th century economic activity. Foremost        limits economic development and exacerbates
                                    among these are local, regional, and national      regional, social, and economic inequalities.
                                    fibre networks. These are critical pieces of       Covid-19 has cast this digital divide in stark
                                    infrastructure that enable the transmission        relief: income and home Internet access are
                                    of large quantities of information (including      correlated, with high income, high speed
                                    those related to the internet, telephone, and      Internet households the most able to stay at
                                    television) at high speeds over long distances,    home during lockdown.[9]
                                    far outperforming copper wire-based digital
                                    infrastructures.                                           In the United States, 21.3 million
                                                                                       people do not have access to the minimum
                                            The global spread of Covid-19 has          speed broadband connection; meanwhile,
                                    shone a bright spotlight on both the vital         around 133 million people - nearly half the
                                    need for reliable high-speed internet and          country - do not have access to a connection
        6                           the inadequacies of the for-profit, corporate      with speeds of at least 250Mbps/25Mbps.
                                                                                       [10] Moreover, even when high-speed internet
                                    model in delivering it. As entire towns, cities,
                                    and regions are locked down, tens of millions      is available, it is often unaffordable. For
                                    of workers have been shifted to teleworking        instance, nearly 30 percent of households in
                                    status, millions of students are now attempting    some urban areas do not have any internet
                                    to continue their studies from home, while         connection, primarily due to cost.[11] In such
                                    people of all ages are increasingly reliant on     areas, this lack of access disproportionately
                                    the internet to socialise and communicate          affects people of color, exacerbating and
                                    during isolation.                                  widening economic and digital divides.[12] On
                                                                                       top of this, the internet in the United States is
                                            The e c onomic b enefit s of a             far slower and more expensive than in most
                                    transformative upgrade in our digital              other advanced countries. According to
                                    infrastructures are immense: the Centre for        recent estimates, the United States may be
                                    Economics & Business Research estimates            as low as 15th in the world when it comes to
                                    that in the UK a nationwide 100% full-fibre        average speeds, and 56th when it comes to
                                    would provide a gross value added uplift of        cost per Mb.[13]
                                    £63 billion by 2030, enable an extra million
                                    number of new home workers relative to 2019               Unavailable or unaffordable internet
                                    baseline, and help almost half a million people    places certain industries, regions and
                                    to find work. A full-fibre network would also      socioeconomic groups at a disadvantage. For
                                    have vital environmental benefits, with 300        instance, a recent article in the Washington
                                    million fewer commuter trips a year in the UK      Post revealed that many students in rural
                                    and 360,000 tonnes fewer of carbon dioxide         areas in the US, along with those in low
                                    emitted as a result.[6]                            income families, will likely be unable to
                                                                                       access remote learning opportunities set up
                                          Similarly, studies in the United States      by school districts in response to the Covid-
                                    suggest that universal access to even a bare       19 epidemic (and that some districts will not
implement digital learning at all due to the         distributions impact the speed of full-fibre
                              large percentage of children who do not have         development, the UK lags significantly behind
                              internet access).[14] If school closures persist,    many other European countries in terms of
                              these students will likely fall even further         full-fibre coverage to households.[23] What’s
                              behind their wealthier peers.[15] Preliminary        more, around half of households in the country
                              data from the Covid-19 epidemic in the United        “receive their internet from early 20th century
                              States is already revealing stark racial and         infrastructure,”[24] but “growing data demands
                              socio-economic disparities concerning who is         are pushing the limits” of this copper-based
                              affected medically, economically, and socially       infrastructure.[25]
                              by the virus.[16] The lack of affordable and
                              accessible internet is only likely to exacerbate              Left to profit-maximising telecoms
                              these inequalities.                                  firms, development of various types of vital
                                                                                   digital infrastructure is likely to be designed
                                      Moreover, the Covid-19 shut downs            to meet the needs of "surveillance capitalism",
                              are likely to put increased demand on                focused on generating behavioural data that
                              broadband networks, exposing older and               can be translated into insight, intervention, and
                              inferior networks to increased congestion,           profit - a business model that will not deliver a
                              bottlenecks, and slow-downs. As broadband            digital landscape that is sustainable, privacy-
                              expert Christopher Mitchell writes, “the rich        enhancing, rights-preserving, innovative and
                              will get richer… [and] historic inequities will      democratic.[26] While this report will focus
                              be exacerbated – people that have been               primarily on full-fibre broadband, we will touch
                              able to afford the high-quality networks will        on two other key areas of digital infrastructure:
                              probably see very little disruption and those        cloud computing infrastructure and the
                              who have older networks may be effectively           wireless spectrum.
                              disconnected.”[17]
                                                                                           The first refers to the hardware and
                                       In the UK, where the target is to build     software needed to support cloud computing
   7                          a nationwide gigabit capable network by              processes, that is: the use of distributed
                              2025, the building of a full-fibre infrastructure    or shared resources to store, manage,
                              is primarily being undertaken by private             and process data. This includes physical
                              investment organised through a competitive           equipment such as data centers, servers,
                              market, though the UK Government has                 routers, and wires, as well as various pieces
                              committed £5 billion for connecting the              of software that utilizes this equipment to
                              “hardest-to-reach” 20% of premises that are          construct virtual networks.[27] Increasingly,
                              not commercially viable.[18] This approach           individuals and companies alike rely on cloud
                              has failed to deliver substantial progress.          infrastructure to store, transfer, and process
                              Only an estimated 13.6% of UK households             vast quantities of data.[28]
                              had full-fibre connection as of May 2020,[19] a
                              figure which marks sharp regional and income                In each of these companies, cloud
                              digital divides: more than half of all of the UK’s   computing services represent just one
                              650 constituencies have below 5% full-fibre          component (albeit a lucrative component) of a
                              coverage, while just 10 constituencies have          much larger corporate structure that is quickly
                              coverage of greater than 60%.[20] Strikingly,        extending into all aspects of the economy and
                              just 47% of those living on a low income use         society. And control of cloud infrastructure
                              broadband internet at home, defined as those         allows these companies to extend and
                              with 70% of the median household income              entrench their economic dominance in
                              before housing costs, adjusted for the size of       various ways, including buying up or blocking
                              household.[21]                                       potential new competition.[29] The Covid-19
The Democracy Collaborative

                                                                                   epidemic threatens to exacerbate many of
                                      Overall, the UK was ranked 35th out          these issues and grow power of these large
Common Wealth &

                              of 37 countries assessed by the OECD for             tech corporations. Recently, The Economist
                              the proportion of fibre connections in its total     noted that the crisis has benefitted big tech in
                              fixed broadband infrastructure,[22] and factors      various ways while at the same time crushing
                              such as different geographies and population         many smaller tech competitors (to say nothing
of brick and mortar small businesses). “All          away from reliance on Amazon, Google and
Democratic Digital Infrastructure

                                    this,” The Economist suggests, “will make it         Microsoft’s cloud computing systems, citing
                                    easier for the big firms to hire the best talent.”   the European Union’s Open Science Cloud as
                                    Moreover, “collapsing firms could be snapped         one model for providing a publicly funded and
                                    up by the tech giants,” further consolidating        operated cloud infrastructure.[34]
                                    the market.[30]
                                                                                                  T h e s e c o n d a r e a o f di gi t a l
                                            Increasingly, commentators and               infrastructure we focus on is the
                                    policymakers from across the political               electromagnetic spectrum, or rather
                                    spectrum (and around the world) have begun           particular frequencies and bands within it.
                                    to take on the question of the giant tech            All wireless communication, from phone
                                    monopolies. Often, this has taken the form of        calls to radio broadcasts to mobile internet,
                                    suggesting that big tech companies should be         consists of transmitting data through the
                                    broken up. In the United States this has been        air on a particular frequency, and in most
                                    proposed or discussed by politicians ranging         cases those frequencies must be exclusive.
                                    from Senator Elizabeth Warren to President           [35] In other words, two radio stations
                                    Trump (though the latter seems motivated             cannot broadcast over the same frequency
                                    primarily by his personal feud with Amazon           or there would be interference. The same
                                    CEO Jeff Bezos).[31] In the United Kingdom,          applies to mobile phone companies and
                                    a similar antitrust strategy was proposed            anyone else transmitting data wirelessly. The
                                    by Vince Cable while leader of the Liberal           electromagnetic spectrum, specifically the
                                    Democrats. Cable proposed that “Amazon               radio frequency (RF) portion of it, is a relatively
                                    [could be] split into three separate businesses:     unique piece of digital infrastructure insofar
                                    one offering cloud computing, one acting as a        as it is recognized as a common or public
                                    general retailer and one offering a third-party      asset, akin to a finite, yet renewable natural
                                    marketplace.”[32]                                    resource (i.e. there are limited frequencies on
                                                                                         the spectrum, but each frequency can be used
        8                                   However, efforts to break up the large       over and over again).
                                    tech firms and separate their cloud computing
                                    services from other functions have thus far                  In the UK, the allocation and regulation
                                    gone nowhere on either side of the Atlantic,         of spectrum in the UK is undertaken by Ofcom,
                                    and the Covid-19 epidemic has both focused           the UK's communications regulator. As set out
                                    attention elsewhere and muted some of the            in the Communications Act 2003, a key duty
                                    momentum around antitrust approaches                 of Ofcom is to secure the optimal use of the
                                    on privacy grounds, particularly in Europe.          radio spectrum for the public. Ofcom uses an
                                    Moreover, the history of traditional antitrust       auctioning process to allocate spectrum, with
                                    approaches, especially in the United States,         commercial actors bidding for bands of radio
                                    suggests that in this corporate capitalist           frequency spectrum.[36] Auction regulations
                                    system, even if large corporations are broken        are set out in the Wireless Telegraphy (Licence
                                    up they will quickly reconsolidate, as has           Award) Regulations 2018, including limits on
                                    happened with the communications sector              the amount of spectrum that individual mobile
                                    more than 30 years after AT&T was broken             operators are able to hold after auction.[37]
                                    up.[33]
                                                                                                 In the US, this asset is managed on
                                            Both due to the failure of antitrust         behalf of the public by the federal government,
                                    strategies and a growing realization that cloud      which keeps some frequencies for public
                                    infrastructure is an important basic need in         purposes (government agencies and services,
                                    modern society, there have, in recent years,         for instance) and leases others out to various
                                    been increasing calls for public ownership           types of communications companies. The US
                                    of foundational digital infrastructures. For         Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
                                    instance, Nick Srnicek, a lecturer in digital        has, since 1994, conducted spectrum auctions
                                    economy at King’s College London, recently           by which certain frequencies not being used
                                    suggested that we could “imagine computing           by the government are leased to the private
                                    as a basic 21st-century utility,” and move           sector.[38] These auctions have generated
tens of billions for the government, which are       also become a relatively mainstream political
                              deposited in the US Treasury. While revenue          issue, especially within the Democratic
                              generation is one of the objectives the FCC is       Party. When in office, President Obama
                              required, by law, to consider when conducting        supported local, publicly owned broadband,
                              these auctions and leasing frequencies, it is        as have numerous presidential candidates
                              also required to consider competition, excess        in the most recent electoral cycle (including
                              concentration, and “preventing the unjust            Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Pete
                              enrichment of any party.” Over the years, many       Buttigieg). In 2015, the FCC issued a ruling
                              observers have suggested that the FCC’s              that attempted to use federal regulatory
                              spectrum auctions, as currently practiced,           authority to overturn the state preemption
                              often do not meet these additional “public           laws impeding the establishment of publicly
                              interest” requirements.[39]                          owned networks. However, the Sixth Court of
                                                                                   Appeals overturned the FCC ruling in 2016,
                                       The launch of 5G networks will              ruling that only a direct act of Congress could
                              substantially boost demand for fibre in              stop state level preemption laws.[41]
                              both the UK and US, meaning control of
                              this infrastructure will grow in economic                    Alongside preemption laws, corporate
                              importance. Critically, while 5G will be an          lobbyists have attempted to block publicly
                              important part of a thriving digital future, it      owned networks from receiving state
                              is less reliable than full-fibre, which is crucial   investment funds for broadband development
                              for fibre-fed 5G. It is not a case of either-or      (preferring instead that the funds be directed
                              - the two combined can deliver 21st century          to the large corporates).[42]
                              connectivity.

                              2
                                                                                           This is par ticularly impor tant
                                                                                   because lawmakers at the federal level
                                                                                   are currently considering including large-

                              Recent
                                                                                   scale investments into digital infrastructure
   9                                                                               (including broadband) as part of their
                                                                                   interventionist response to the Covid-19

                              develop-
                                                                                   epidemic. “Expanding digital infrastructure,
                                                                                   like broadband internet and 5G, and access
                                                                                   to clean water are on Democrats' wish list

                              ments
                                                                                   as the coronavirus pandemic has forced
                                                                                   much of the globe to function remotely from
                                                                                   the safe confines of one's own home,” one
                                                                                   report on the legislative negotiations stated,
                                                                                   before noting that “upgrading America's
                                      In the US, due to the spread and
                                                                                   technology infrastructure, lawmakers argue,
                              success of publicly owned broadband
                              networks (detailed below), the large
                              telecommunications corporations have
                              made it a priority to preserve their current
                              dominance and hinder further such efforts.
                              In recent years, 19 states have enacted
                              “preemption laws” that impede or impair the
                              establishment of publicly owned broadband
                              networks.[40] These may include outright
                              bans or complicated legal and financial
                              requirements that don’t apply to the private
The Democracy Collaborative

                              companies.
Common Wealth &

                                     At the same time, supporting local
                              communities in their attempts to create
                              publicly owned broadband networks has
would also better serve tele-health and            public organisations in broadcasting, and a
Democratic Digital Infrastructure

                                    remote classroom teaching.”[43] As with state      digital sector dominated by a few tech giants,
                                    funds, these potential federal investments         along with some more established media
                                    could be diverted into the coffers of major        organisations.”[47]
                                    telecommunications corporations, leaving
                                    communities only marginally better off                     The FCC is moving ahead with
                                    than they were before in terms of access,          extremely lucrative public auctions while at
                                    affordability, and speed. Alternatively, they      the same time the wireless communication
                                    could become a transformative resource that        sector continues to consolidate among fewer
                                    allows and enables communities across the          corporate hands (for instance, the success of
                                    country to build and control their own high-       the Sprint-T-Mobile merger will leave just three
                                    speed internet networks, and seize control of      corporations in control of the vast majority of
                                    their economic future.                             the mobile telecommunications market). Most
                                                                                       recently, this relates to the C-Band spectrum
                                             When it comes to the wireless             currently used by satellite providers. At the
                                    spectrum in the United States, as wireless         end of 2019, legislation was introduced in
                                    communication has become increasingly              Congress that would direct the FCC to pursue
                                    data-heavy with the advent of smartphone and       a public auction of the C-Band and allocate up
                                    tablet technology, the FCC has sought to make      to 50 percent of the proceeds to compensate
                                    more spectrum available to the large mobile        existing users and up to 50 percent to the US
                                    phone corporations (especially the mid-band        Treasury. A subsequent amendment changed
                                    spectrum that is the most valuable). The three     this formula to include a 10 percent allocation
                                    strategies it is pursuing are: leasing spectrum    for rural broadband development.[48]
                                    that was previously used by government
                                    agencies; setting up “incentive” auctions                   While the 5G Spectrum Act has
                                    that allow radio and television broadcasters       not yet been voted on, the FCC has moved
                                    to sell their licences in exchange for a cut       forward, announcing that it will pursue a
        10                          of the proceeds; and repurposing various           public auction of the C-Band spectrum at the
                                    frequencies on the spectrum (blocks) for           end of 2020 (rejecting efforts from the satellite
                                    mobile use.[44]                                    companies to conduct a private auction
                                                                                       and return proceeds to the government at
                                            These strategies are controversial         their discretion). Essentially, this means the
                                    for a number of reasons, including that            FCC will take spectrum previously leased
                                    they are enabling further concentration            to satellite providers and auction it off to
                                    and extension of corporate power in the            wireless companies to develop 5G. The
                                    communications sector. For instance, the           satellite companies will receive compensation
                                    US broadcast incentive auction that ended in       for their licenses as well as payments to
                                    2017 resulted in 133 local television stations     incentivize the transition to other parts of the
                                    either relinquishing their broadcast licences      spectrum. The process has drawn criticism
                                    (closing their operations) or consolidating with   from various experts, including several FCC
                                    another station.[45] In the current era of mass    Commissioners, who among other things
                                    disinformation, distrust of large-scale media      argue that the compensation and incentive
                                    outlets, and the collapse of local news and        payments for the satellite companies are
                                    journalism, these closures and consolidations      excessive and or unnecessary, and divert
                                    are of particular concern. As Victor Pickard       valuable public funds to corporate interests.
                                    writes: “the US media system stands out            [49]
                                    among democracies for its commercial
                                    excesses. Many sectors are dominated by                    Lastly, as previously noted, while
                                    corporate oligopolies, producing content with      there has been considerable discussion in
                                    few public interest protections.”[46] In the UK,   policy making circles about “breaking up” big
                                    as the media theorists Tom Mills and Dan Hind      tech companies like Amazon and Google and
                                    argue: “Our current media system combines a        separating their cloud computing services
                                    partisan plutocracy in the print media, a mixed    from other functions, there have been few
                                    economy of well-regulated commercial and           concrete policy advances on this front. One
exception is the plan released by Senator            powers to take action”. [53] The Scottish
                              Elizabeth Warren in March 2019 while running         Government has some power over how UK
                              to become the Democratic presidential                funding for broadband is used, for example
                              nominee. The plan called for federal legislation     by managing broadband initiatives,as well
                              to be passed designating certain large tech          as some power over additional funding.[54]
                              companies (those that “offer to the public an        Local authorities are also often involved in the
                              online marketplace, an exchange, or a platform       delivery of broadband infrastructure projects,
                              for connecting third parties”) platform utilities.   such as planning regarding street works.
                              [50]
                                                                                          The regulation of the privatised
                                       Companies would be prohibited               broadband market is controlled by a UK
                              from owning both the platform utility and            regulatory body called Ofcom, which defines
                              other companies using the platform, and              and enforces the conditions by which
                              they would be required to separate and               broadband and other telecoms companies
                              spin off certain business lines (for instance,       must operate by. This includes the power
                              Google’s ad and search businesses would              to intervene to challenge the power and
                              be separated). Additionally, Warren’s plan           behaviour of dominant market operators
                              envisioned appointing regulators that would          where.
                              use traditional antitrust strategies to unwind
                              various tech mergers and acquisitions (for                    The development of a gigabit-capable
                              instance, Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods).         full-fibre broadband infrastructure has been
                              Importantly, Warren’s plan did not explicitly        a consistent focus of UK broadband policy:
                              mention cloud infrastructure/computing.              Theresa May’s Government had a target to
                              As business columnist Kevin Roose wrote              build a UK-wide full-fibre network by 2033,
                              in the New York Times, this was surprising           while Boris Johnson's Government has a
                              given that it is “one of the clearest examples       new target of “gigabit-capable broadband”
                              of oligopolistic behavior in the tech industry.”     nationwide by 2025 (though this commitment
   11                         Roose went on to suggest that “an effective          is neutral on whether it would be a full-fibre
                              breakup proposal could require companies             network). [55][56] To reach its targets, the UK
                              like Amazon, Google and Microsoft to spin            government policy is that “full-fibre or gigabit-
                              their cloud-computing divisions off into stand-      broadband infrastructure will be mostly built
                              alone businesses, in a manner similar to the         by private investment,” with the government
                              one Ms. Warren proposed for breaking up              “committed to provide funding for areas that
                              e-commerce marketplaces.”[51]                        are not viable for commercial investment.”[57]
                                                                                   Their aim is for the majority of the UK’s future
                                       In the UK, powers regarding broadband       digital infrastructure to be built by for-profit
                              policy are largely reserved to Westminster           companies operating in a competitive
                              but partially devolved to other governments,         market - a market that government policy has
                              with the “practical delivery of broadband roll-      actively sought to create. Funding for areas
                              out … led by local bodies in England and the         not reached by commercial investment will
                              devolved Administrations in Scotland, Wales          follow an “outside in” approach, with the areas
                              and Northern Ireland.”[52] The UK government         hardest to reach targeted first.
                              sets, for example, wider funding and regulation
                              of broadband services and coverage targets,                   To that end, £5 billion of public
                              while both devolved administrations and local        investment was announced in the March
                              authorities have a key role in the delivery          2020 Budget focused on connecting the
                              of broadband infrastructure projects. For            20% of premises that are not commercially
                              Northern Ireland, telecommunications is              viable; this money appears to be subsidising
The Democracy Collaborative

                              reserved to Westminster, but Northern                private companies, such as Virgin Media, to
                              Ireland’s Department for the Economy has             connect households they otherwise would
Common Wealth &

                              limited powers to intervene where there              not. This funding accompanies two UK-wide
                              is evidence of market failure. In Wales,             Government programmes to deploy full-fibre
                              broadband is similarly not devolved, but the         networks delivered by Building Digital UK: The
                              Welsh Assembly does have “some other                 Local Full Fibre Networks Programme,[58] a
combination of a voucher scheme for SMES
Democratic Digital Infrastructure

                                    and grants to public sector bodies, and The                 Regarding the development of 5G,
                                    Rural Gigabit Connectivity Programme.[59]          reports in October 2019 indicated that Boris
                                                                                       Johnson would be allowing Huawei to help
                                            The primary response to the slow           to develop 5G network capabilities in the UK.
                                    deployment of full-fibre from Ofcom and the        The sections of the network which Huawei
                                    UK government has been to funnel more              would be involved with have been variously
                                    funding toward private actors to connect           described as “non-contentious” or “non-core.”
                                    otherwise commercially non-viable premises,        Subsequent to that, the government
                                    encourage the roll out of FTTP (fibre to the       announced it is taking forward three
                                    premises) networks as an alternative to BT’s       measures from its Telecoms Supply Chain
                                    fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) approach, create       Review regarding network safety and strategic
                                    more network-based competition, and to             interest. First, stronger regulation, with a new
                                    relax planning rules. This has encouraged          security regime regarding the design and
                                    the growth of alternative networks such as         operation of the UK's telecoms networks;
                                    Virgin Media, the only ISP provider with its       second, steps to improve the diversity in
                                    own fibre network, and new players such            supply of equipment, which is currently
                                    as CityFibre and Hyperoptics – companies           dominated by three major players dominating
                                    that often have highly concentrated, private       the telecoms networks, and finally a new set
                                    ownership structures, which are now central        of tests for network providers deemed ‘high
                                    to the government’s fibre roll-out plan.           risk’.[62] It remains unclear which sections
                                                                                       that would involve, and what kind of data
                                            The reliance on these players              access that could provide the company. As it
                                    risks turning a vital piece of infrastructure      stands, the government has argued that UK
                                    into a source of further rent-seeking and          firms lack the technical capacity to develop a
                                    financialisation in the economy.                   working 5G network and that it is necessary to
                                                                                       contract Huawei to help build those elements
        12                                  Even with a new wave of smaller            of the network.
                                    providers coming on line, there are substantial
                                    issues concerning equity, security, and cost.              Prior to the privatisation of the UK’s
                                    CityFibre, an alternative provider of wholesale    telecoms market, spectrum allocation was
                                    fibre network infrastructure which is central      straightforward: it was given to the state-
                                    to the government’s strategy for delivering        owned operator. With the rise in competition,
                                    fibre network, was acquired this year for          an auction process was introduced, with
                                    £538m by Antin Infrastructure Partners and         companies bidding for exclusive use of a
                                    West Street Infrastructure Partners, a fund        spectrum license. In 2000, the 3G spectrum
                                    managed by Goldman Sachs. [60] Seven               auction raised £22bn, though subsequent
                                    financial institutions have backed the first       auctions have raised far less; the UK’s four
                                    phase of CityFibre’s UK investment plan with       biggest mobile operators spent almost £1.4bn
                                    a £1.12bn infrastructure debt package, with        to secure 5G spectrum in April 2018. [63]
                                    the company seeking to acquire FibreNation,        Ofcom manages the UK spectrum allocation,
                                    another full-fibre provider owned by TalkTalk.     including through spectrum auctions, works
                                    [61]                                               to ensure sufficient spectrum is available for
                                                                                       5G, and has a statutory duty to ensure it is
                                            Vital parts of the UK’s infrastructure     used in the most effective way, as set out in
                                    are therefore in the hands of substantially        the Communications Act 2003. Ofcom release
                                    unaccountable corporate actors, operating to       spectrum for new uses as well as developing
                                    the rhythm of financial over social needs. Their   policies to ensure spectrum is used efficiently.
                                    current structures and incentives - opaque,
                                    financialised, focused on maximising returns               The experiences of both the US and
                                    for investors over investment - are likely to      UK demonstrate that the current status
                                    reinforce the behaviours and outcomes that         quo, and a policy environment that favors
                                    private control of digital infrastructure has      private development as the primary strategy
                                    already generated.                                 for expanding digital infrastructure is, at
best, insufficient, both in terms of speed of          share buybacks rather than investing in
                              rollout of new technology and for ensuring             vital infrastructures.
                              universal and affordable access. To speed          •   Undemocratic ownership and governance
                              and democratize digital infrastructure                 of essential services as the management
                              development, new approaches to ownership               of public utilities and services are

                              3
                              and control are necessary.                             undertaken by weakly accountable private
                                                                                     players.
                                                                                 •   Digital redlining as companies cherry

                              Why the
                                                                                     pick provision, excluding poorer areas
                                                                                     and marginalised groups, reproducing
   13                                                                                race, gender, regional, and class-based

                              market
                                                                                     inequalities.
                                                                                 •   Oppressive systems of surveillance
                                                                                     and social control that amplify existing

                              falls short
                                                                                     inequalities and forms of oppression.
                                                                                 •   The proliferation of carbon-intensive
                                                                                     technologies as industry competes
                                                                                     to develop infrastructures of hyper-
                                                                                     connectivity, enabling as much data as
                                      T hough the p ar t s of digi t al
                                                                                     possible to be mined from people and
                              infrastructure we are considering in this
                                                                                     places for monetisation.
                              module – fibre/broadband, cloud computing
                                                                                 •   Increased corporate economic and
                              services, and the wireless spectrum – have
                                                                                     political power.
                              important differences in the US and the UK
                              due to geography, historical development,
                                                                                          Corporate concentration in the
                              and a host of economic and political factors,
                                                                                 telecommunications sector is a major cause
                              they share at least one important common
                                                                                 of many of these problems and a reason that
                              thread: a market-led approach to provision
                                                                                 often workers, families, and communities
                              predominately undertaken by, and to the
                                                                                 are left with inferior or unaffordable digital
                              benefit of, an oligopolistic set of for-profit
                                                                                 access and service. For many areas, this lack
                              corporations. This, in turn, has created similar
                                                                                 of affordable high speed internet is especially
                              problems in both the US and UK:
The Democracy Collaborative

                                                                                 critical as a lack of economic opportunity is
                                                                                 a major factor in the outmigration of people
                              •   Under-investment, poor coordination, and
Common Wealth &

                                                                                 to larger cities (and their suburban areas)
                                  rentierisation[64] with corporate earnings
                                                                                 where jobs are more prevalent.[65] In the areas
                                  and debt increasingly funnelled toward
                                                                                 that these workers and their families leave,
                                  shareholders in the form of dividends and
                                                                                 this leads to a downward spiral of lower tax
revenues, service cuts, and further population     the country – especially in rural areas.
Democratic Digital Infrastructure

                                    loss that has left many communities in both        However, as a group of seven prominent
                                    the US and the UK struggling to survive.           economists and business school professors
                                                                                       explained in early 2020, “it’s part of CEOs’ job
                                            In the United States, both the wired and   descriptions to be persuasive, especially when
                                    wireless sectors are dominated by a few large      it concerns future plans. There is nothing
                                    companies.[66] Harvard’s Susan Crawford            that holds them to what they say in court.”
                                    writes that “most Americans probably believe       Furthermore, “the vast majority of economists
                                    the communications sector of the economy           believe that the elimination of Sprint as a rival
                                    has room for innumerable competitors, but          to other carriers will result in less competition,
                                    they may be surprised at how concentrated          higher prices, and lower quality in phone
                                    the market for the modern-day equivalent of        service,” they wrote.[71]
                                    the standard phone line is. These days what
                                    that basic transmission service is facilitating              In other words, even in the unlikely
                                    is high-speed access to the Internet. In that      event that the new, mega company does
                                    market, there are two enormous monopoly            follow through on its pledges to dramatically
                                    submarkets – one for wireless and one for          expand mobile broadband access, there is no
                                    wired transmission. Both are dominated by          guarantee it will be affordable. To the contrary,
                                    two or three large companies.”[67]                 as the market continues to concentrate into
                                                                                       the hands of a few for-profit corporations ,
                                              Moreover, the sector is becoming         it is likely that costs will increase. Recently,
                                    ever more consolidated as mergers and              Jonathan Sallet, a Senior Fellow at the Benton
                                    acquisitions continue apace. For instance, in      Institute for Broadband and Society, explained
                                    2018 AT&T completed its mega-deal to acquire       that “competitive choices have generally
                                    Time Warner – which went ahead despite years       been declining over the years as broadband
                                    of litigation and attempts by the government to    technologies—and consumers’ bandwidth
                                    block the deal on antitrust grounds.[68] More      requirements—have evolved,” and that
        14                          recently, the FCC, the Justice Department,         “the implications of limited competition are
                                    and US courts (which largely deferred to           obvious”, with service users ending up paying
                                    the opinions of the government agencies)           more.”[72]
                                    approved a merger between T-Mobile and
                                    Sprint, recently the third and fourth largest              Similar market concentration and
                                    mobile communications companies in the US          corporate control exists in cloud infrastructure.
                                    respectively.[69]                                  Recent estimates suggest that just three
                                                                                       American companies (Amazon, Microsoft,
                                            As previously mentioned, mobile            and Google) account for around 60% of the
                                    phone corporations like T-Mobile, Sprint,          global cloud infrastructure market – with
                                    and AT&T are often the major players in,           Amazon Web Services alone accounting
                                    and beneficiaries of, the FCC’s spectrum           for 33%.[73] Some of the implications of this
                                    auctions. Yet, there is considerable debate as     concentration were discussed earlier in the
                                    to whether their needs justify the aggressive      introduction, however it is worth reiterating
                                    action the FCC is taking to free up spectrum       here. A recent report in the New York Times
                                    from government and broadcast sources.             illustrates how Amazon has used its near
                                    In 2011, for instance, Citigroup stated that       monopoly position in cloud infrastructure and
                                    their market analysis showed that “too much        computing to decimate smaller competitors
                                    spectrum is controlled by companies that are       and extend its corporate power, “lifting
                                    not planning on rolling out services or face       other people’s innovations, trying to poach
                                    business and financial challenges.”[70]            their engineers and profiting off what they
                                                                                       made… choking off the growth of would-be
                                          Part of the justification for the            competitors and forcing them to reorient how
                                    government in giving its blessing to the           they do business.” [74]
                                    T-Mobile-Sprint merger were a number of
                                    commitments made by the companies to                      The development of the UK’s digital
                                    expand mobile broadband availability around        infrastructure has also been market-led
and undertaken by a handful of powerful            coverage under such conditions achievable
                              companies, with this market-based approach         only with significant government intervention,
                              stalling the deployment of a full-fibre network.   including subsidies and franchisement for
                              In the 1980s, BT - then a publicly owned           areas which are uneconomic for private
                              company in the process of being privatised         companies to reach. The capital cost of
                              - began a massive drive to digitise the            deployment via “enhanced competition”
                              network, replacing copper wires with fibre.        to reach 100% coverage is estimated to be
                              As a result, the UK briefly had more fibre per     £32.3bn. By contrast, the analysis suggests
                              capita than any other nation and two factories     a monopoly provider would deliver universal
                              manufacturing the components for systems           coverage faster and at a lower cost than
                              to roll out to the local loop. But in 1990, then   enhanced competition market conditions,
                              Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher decided           with nation-wide full-fibre deployment
                              BT’s rapid and extensive rollout of fibre          achievable within 15 years at an undiscounted
                              optic broadband was "anti-competitive" and         deployment Capex of £20.3bn.
                              wanted American cable companies providing
                              the same service to increase competition.                   The undiscounted fixed deployment
                              The factories were sold to Fujitsu and HP          Operating Expenditures (Opex) for the two
                              and with it the expertise. Consequently, in        scenarios (National Monopoly and Enhanced
                              1991 roll out was stopped and the UK fell far      Competition) are roughly equivalent, though
                              behind in broadband speeds and coverage.[75]       slightly lower under monopoly provision
                              To this day, the UK’s deployment of full-fibre     at £22.8bn compared with £23.7bn under
                              infrastructure has never properly recovered.       conditions of government-subsidised
                              [76]                                               'enhanced competition.[80] In other words,
                                                                                 monopoly provision would deliver a universal
                                      The current policy approach is “to         full-fibre network faster and at a lower cost
                              promote private investment by encouraging          than the baseline scenario or under conditions
                              a competitive market to deploy fibre               of “enhanced competition.”
   15                         infrastructure.”[77] This is distinct to the
                              roll-out of superfast broadband, where                      This reflects the fact that a wholly
                              Openreach - the wholesale network provider         market-led, for-profit model is ill-suited to
                              that maintains the telephone cables, ducts,        building and maintaining vital infrastructure
                              cabinets and exchanges that connect nearly         and universal, accessible utility services like
                              all homes and businesses in the UK to the          the full-fibre network. This infrastructure
                              national broadband and telephone network,          is characterised by high fixed costs and
                              and is a functional division of BT, albeit         economies of scale that make deployment
                              divested into a legally distinct company -         unprofitable in rural or poorer areas and
                              dominated due to its ownership of the copper       leads to underprovision. Indeed, deployment
                              network; Virgin Media “is the only major           of full-fibre exhibits classic market failures:
                              infrastructure competitor to Openreach for         cherry-picking, the failure to deliver universal
                              superfast broadband.”[78]                          service without expensive public subsidy,
                                                                                 and damaging short-termism. The sector also
                                     Yet analysis suggests the deployment        suffers from poor coordination of investment,
                              of a comprehensive full-fibre network in the       with costly and excessive duplication of
                              UK via market-led competition is neither the       infrastructure deployment in profitable areas,
                              quickest nor most affordable route. A July         and severe under-provision in others. And the
                              2018 report from Frontier Economics for the        telecoms sector as a whole exhibit rentier-
                              National Infrastructure Commission analysed        like behaviour: from 2006 to 2018, wholesale
                              a set of different approaches for building a       line rental costs went down over 40%, but
The Democracy Collaborative

                              100% full-fibre network in the UK.[79] Their       broadband corporations put prices up 40%.[81]
                              analysis suggests that in a baseline scenario,
Common Wealth &

                              FTTP connectivity would reach just 75% of                  Simply put, companies owned by
                              the UK in 20 years time. Under conditions          investors seeking to maximise returns are
                              of “enhanced competition,” coverage would          structurally ill-equipped to deliver universal
                              reach just 80% within 15 years, with 100%          infrastructure efficiently and equitably, with
their focus on maximising shareholder value           providers exhibited similar or significantly
Democratic Digital Infrastructure

                                    over investing in the infrastructure needs of         higher rates of shareholder payouts, with Sky
                                    the UK. For example, the level of investment          and TalkTalk paying out 46% and 175% relative
                                    in the telecoms industry over the past 20 years       to total pretax income between 2010-2018,
                                    has been relatively flat in nominal terms, with       respectively.[86] In other words, corporate
                                    the sector ‘sweating’ existing assets rather          cash that could be invested in improving
                                    than "significantly expanding the capital             digital infrastructure and accelerating the
                                    stock."[82] To take one example, over the past        deployment of full-fibre has instead been
                                    20 years, BT Group – including Openreach,             increasingly funnelled toward private
                                    the UK’s main network provider – paid an              investors.
                                    average annual dividend of over £1bn, for a                   In both the US and the UK, many
                                    total of £53bn since 1985 (all figures adjusted       analysts and experts agree that oligopolistic
                                    for inflation).[83] Strikingly, £1.5bn in dividends   power in the hands of for-profit corporations
                                    was paid out to shareholders in 2019 alone.           is a major factor in the lack of affordable
                                                                                          broadband internet.[87] These corporations
                                            Between 2010 and 2018, BT Group               have little incentive (outside of insufficient
                                    maintained an average profit margin of 10%.           public subsidies and incentives) to invest in
                                    During this time, total shareholder payouts           expanding or improving networks in rural
                                    (including dividends and share buybacks)              and low-income areas. Instead, their profit
                                    averaged just under half of BT Group’s                model is based on raising prices as much
                                    pretax income, rising substantially from 36%          as possible in high-density areas where they
                                    relative to pretax income in the first half of        have a market monopoly (or duopoly). The
                                    the decade to 57% in the latter half.[84] At          incentive structure of shareholder-owned
                                    the same time, as shown in Figure 1, BT’s             businesses then means that shareholder
                                    fixed investment (Capex) fell as a proportion         payouts consume an increasingly significant
                                    of pretax income, from over 260% in 2010 to           part of corporate cash, in lieu of other uses
                                    just shy of 140% in 2019.[85] Other telecoms          such as R&D investment or infrastructure
        16

                                    Figure 1: Shareholder Payouts and Fixed Investment (Capex) Relative to Pretax Income, 2010-2019.
                                    Source: Common Wealth analysis of data from Thomson Reuters Refinitiv Eikon. Accessed May 2020.
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