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It's not at all similar to roads, the Dulles Greenway notwithstanding. Not really similar to power either. I'm aware of how this arrangement works and why government would want to create and own the infrastructure in an attempt to attract investment.

There is no attempt at a "gotcha" argument, just dispensing with the Panglossian notion that this will definitely work long term. It might!

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Its similar to roads in a lot of ways, one of the important ones is that there is a civil/social utility in ensuring even remote people are "connected" by road or internet to the rest of the country/world, often at a cost to the society outside of private profit.

So the idea that it needs to be self-sustainable or profitable to be considered working is myopic. The completion/connection of the people is the achievement, the sustainability and integration with private companies hopefully reduces the government burden and enables innovation and competition without the need for vast capital expenditures.

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