content: The converse to this perspective is that business resolutely refused to perform the work as private enterprise, and when given the money, took it and did something else with it. It's not a gov vs. private issue, it's a people who can think ahead vs. people who only see their bank balance. The only reason Google are doing anything is because their business requires an audience with lots of bandwidth. Telco's require an audience they can artificially constrain and tier. If the "pipes" were provided as public utility, both Google and telco's could tap that resource and affect neither adversely, as no side can create a situation to advantage themselves at the cost of others. If .gov is unable to provide a service due to corruption or incompetence, the issue is not with government providing services, but the people elected into government being easily corruptible. Change the people and the outcome would be different.