Is the UK’s broadband infrastructure a vital national asset that must not be allowed to fall into the arms of, say, a Swiss-based French telecoms tycoon with a taste for financing his ventures with oodles of debt?
Come back another day – possibly – to discover the government’s view. Tuesday’s ruling on Patrick Drahi’s 18% stake in BT was a fudge. No action will be taken on the billionaire’s current holding under the new, and theoretically muscular, National Security and Investment Act. But we’re none the wiser as to what would happen if Drahi ups his stake to, say, 20% or 25%, or mounts a full-blown takeover bid.
