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* Labour promises free fibre broadband for all
* Labour to tax Google, Amazon and Facebook to pay
* Conservatives have also made broadband promise
(Recasts lead)
By Michael Holden and Guy Faulconbridge
LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labour Party
said it would nationalise parts of telecoms provider BT's
network if it won power in the Dec. 12 election to
provide free full-fibre broadband for all.
The sweeping upgrade of Britain's internet infrastructure
would be paid for by raising taxes on tech firms such as
Alphabet's Google, Amazon and Facebook
and using its Green Transformation fund, Labour said.
Labour said it would nationalise Openreach - the digital
network arm of the country's biggest broadband and mobile phone
provider - as well as parts of BT Technology, BT Enterprise and
BT Consumer.
"It's time to make the very fastest full-fibre broadband
free to everybody, in every home in every corner of the
country," Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will say in a speech,
according to an extract released by the party.
"By creating British Broadband as a public service, we will
lead the world in using public investment to transform our
country, reduce people's monthly bills, boost our economy and
improve people's quality of life."
Labour said the cost of nationalising parts of BT would be
set by parliament and paid for by swapping bonds for shares.
A BT spokesman said in an emailed statement that rolling out
full-fibre broadband and 5G across Britain should be a top
political priority. He did not specifically address Labour's
nationalisation plan.
"Whatever the result of the election, we'd encourage the
next government to work with all parts of the industry to
achieve that," the spokesman said.
PROMISED SAVING
Currently, fewer than 10% of British premises have access to
full-fibre broadband - also called fibre to the premises, where
fibre optic cable instead of copper is used to connect homes to
the network.
Labour said it would roll out the free broadband to all
individuals and businesses by 2030, providing it to at least 15
million to 18 million premises within five years. It said the
plan would save the average person 30.30 pounds a month.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already promised to roll
out full-fibre broadband to all homes by 2025 with an investment
of 5 billion pounds ($6.40 billion) if his Conservatives, who
are leading in the opinion polls, win the election.
BT's Chief Executive Philip Jansen said last month that
Johnson's timescale would be extremely difficult to achieve and
said the company would need the government and the regulator to
create conditions that would allow it to make a fair return.
The company, which was privatised by Margaret Thatcher's
Conservative government in 1984, said it could fund the 25
billion to 30 billion pound cost of building a full-fibre
network by issuing debt, reallocating capex, disposing assets,
and by cutting its dividend.
Under its plans, Labour said there would be a one-off
capital cost of 15.3 billion pounds to deliver the full-fibre
network, on top of the 5 billion already promised by Johnson.
($1 = 0.7815 pounds)
(Writing by Michael Holden and Guy Faulconbridge, additional
reporting by Paul Sandle and Aishwarya Nair; Editing by Rosalba
O'Brien, Jane Wardell)
