And the title of the article linked here brings up the question of who would then in turn, possess the control over the infrastructure?

With all of the questions over line sharing recently, as well as yesterday’s Brand X ruling, people are once again looking to figure out what’s the best way to encourage and build next generation networks for broadband. While it looks like the US is going away from the idea of a common carrier route, some of the municipal efforts (such as in Philadelphia) represent interest in the other direction. Over in the UK, it appears that some are addressing the issue in a different way. The government sold various 3G spectrum licenses to five different companies, and over the past few years, almost all of them seemed to regret the incredibly high price they paid. There are still complaints about the hole this left the providers in, and the fact that the services offered still aren’t very good. So, some are wondering, wouldn’t it have made more sense to have everyone team up and build the network together, splitting the costs five-fold, and then allowing everyone to use it? There are obvious pros and cons to such plans. [Read the rest]