Broadband used to be a convenience.

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Now it is an essential service.

We use it for work, banking, shopping, accessing public services, contacting family and running businesses. Vulnerable customers may depend on connected medical alarms and emergency services.

So TalkTalk's near-collapse should concern us for reasons that go far beyond one company getting into financial trouble.

BT has stepped in to buy TalkTalk out of administration in a rescue reportedly worth around £400 million, protecting services used by approximately 2.5 million customers.

But the most striking part of the story is the Government’s warning that a sudden failure could have created a “genuine........

© LBC