BT shares slip amid Labour nationalisation plans
By Duncan Ferris
Date: Friday 15 Nov 2019
(Sharecast News) - Shares of BT Group dropped on Friday after the Labour Party pledged to partially nationalise the company as part of plans to provide all homes and businesses with free full-fibre broadband by 2030.
The party announced the £20.0bn policy late on Thursday, detailing its intention to nationalise the telecoms giant's Openreach digital network arm and stating that the plan would be funded by a tax on tech giants such as Amazon, Google and Facebook.
The plan included measures for BT shareholders to be reimbursed through the issue of government bonds.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said the scheme was essential if the UK is to compete in the global economy, adding that the private sector had failed to deliver broadband development on the scale that was needed.
According to data from Ofcom released in September, British full-fibre broadband coverage stood at just 8.0% in April.
The Conservative party has previously pledged to bring full-fibre broadband to every UK household by 2025 but the Shadow Chancellor said funding plans for the proposal were "nowhere near enough".
Unsurprisingly, Labour's proposal has attracted criticism from Jeremy Corbyn's political opponents, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson branding it a "crackpot scheme" and the Liberal Democrats calling it "another unaffordable item on the wish list".
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "This appears to be yet another eye-catching pledge by a political party to buy off voters with a so called free benefit, which while may be free at the point of delivery, usually ends up with higher taxes across the board."
BT chief, Philip Jansen, said that Corbyn's plans - including a pledge to offer full fibre to all households - carried a price tag of roughly £100.0bn.
BT Group shares were down by 2.20% at 190.94p at 1125 GMT, while utilities companies such as National Grid, Centrica and Severn Trent were also lower amid nationalisation fears.
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