[zimpenfish]

Just think - if they hadn't, why, we could have BT being the majority provider of ADSL in the country and charging people £££ for the privilege!

(Note to non-UKians: BT do, in fact, control most of the ADSL provision in the country and are still a defacto monopoly.)

[almightysmudge]

Or if we want to go really outrageous, a division of BT still controlling literally every new home install of telephone lines, often with engineers not turning up, or not being trained to do the job they've been sent to!

(As above, this is actually the case. )