> it's expensive enough to serve even an affluent area that the market can't really support much more than 2 companies
I would state this with a key qualifier: it's expensive to serve even an affluent area the way our society currently works. The way our society currently works is that local municipalities are strongly discouraged from doing local development sanely--where "sanely" means that when a new subdivision goes in, say, all the easements for running wired high-speed Internet go in as well.
The best way of doing this would be for the local developer to simply run the cables, and have them owned in common by the municipality, homeowner's association, or whatever entity owns the common areas in the development. That entity then leases access to the cables to all Internet providers on an equal basis.
The next-best way would be for the local developer to put in all the cable trenches, space for connection hubs, etc. in while the development is being constructed, right along with the water lines, gas lines, storm sewers, and other utilities, and with all the permits, easements, etc. already in place. Then an Internet provider just has to do a cable pull, which is only a small fraction of the cost of installing high-speed Internet in our actual society.
When municipalities actually try to do either of the above, however, they find themselves embroiled in lawsuits and negative publicity from the large Internet providers, who can't stand the idea that nobody really wants to buy their overpriced services, and if a way of routing around them became common, their business would be kaput.
I would state this with a key qualifier: it's expensive to serve even an affluent area the way our society currently works. The way our society currently works is that local municipalities are strongly discouraged from doing local development sanely--where "sanely" means that when a new subdivision goes in, say, all the easements for running wired high-speed Internet go in as well.
The best way of doing this would be for the local developer to simply run the cables, and have them owned in common by the municipality, homeowner's association, or whatever entity owns the common areas in the development. That entity then leases access to the cables to all Internet providers on an equal basis.
The next-best way would be for the local developer to put in all the cable trenches, space for connection hubs, etc. in while the development is being constructed, right along with the water lines, gas lines, storm sewers, and other utilities, and with all the permits, easements, etc. already in place. Then an Internet provider just has to do a cable pull, which is only a small fraction of the cost of installing high-speed Internet in our actual society.
When municipalities actually try to do either of the above, however, they find themselves embroiled in lawsuits and negative publicity from the large Internet providers, who can't stand the idea that nobody really wants to buy their overpriced services, and if a way of routing around them became common, their business would be kaput.