With regards to Sweden, Tele2 is a large player there:
http://www.tele2.se/tv-start-3-play.html
From what I can see, Tele2 is just as bad as NTL if not worse, they still offer Analogue TV,something that NTL/VM disguise on their website and marketing.
As for the digital Cable service, a definate no no, we have a much better channel line up than that!
Also, I've heard a few comments on how advanced Sweden's internet system is, well the UK is much more highly populated than Sweden, the UK has a population of between 60 Million and 62 Million whilst Sweden has between 9 and 12 Millon people. This means theres less upgrade works and costs in comparison to the UK, same with France too. Also if France is so good with its telecom networks, why is Orange so crap and expensive over in the UK????
And even the swedish companies such as Tele2 have commented on how open and the UK's telecom industry is in regards to predominant firms allowing open access. Something that the rest of Europe doesn't have, well not much of it at that.