The last time Labour wasn't like this we had waiting lists to get a telephone!
It’s a great parable of badly-managed state-run monopoly vs badly-managed privatised monopoly.
I don’t think I blame BT for not wanting to invest in a market it was barred from making a profit in. This is the result of heavy handed local regulation strangling a national incumbent for the sake of foreign interests.
At any point other competitors could have made the same investment but didn’t want to either until relatively recently.