The recent Connected Britain event in London was a bustling forum for fiber and wireless folks to display their wares and share ideas. From the level of activity, you would be forgiven for thinking that business is absolutely booming, but the bustle and brightness of the event has more to do with the final heydays of the UK’s alternative network fiber broadband providers, or ‘altnets,’ than of overall telco industry activity. The tone at the event was an exuberant one. Delegates were enjoying the chance to catch up with peers and former colleagues but most agreed that the event was more of a social occasion than a chance to garner new business. The majority of attendees were vendors, most of…