I'm not saying the reason for the US's poor infrastructure development is decidedly because the US has left it in the hands of the market, I'm just saying I hav

I'm not saying the reason for the US's poor infrastructure development is decidedly because the US has left it in the hands of the market, I'm just saying I have a feeling it has something to do with it, that it's one of the factors. In Sweden, government policy and government subsidies have ensured widespread broadband coverage, not just in major cities, but in large but sparsely populated areas as well. This is true for both internet infrastructure as well as mobile networks. It hasn't been squarely up to the market to decide which areas deserve high capacity broadband and mobile infrastructure. I remember back in 2001 when I traveled to the most northern part of the country to teach programming; Kiruna — the world's second biggest city by area, population 19,000 — had wi-fi network connectivity over the entire downtown area (which admittedly wasn't as large as it may sound). This was not due to the power of the open market. In Sweden there is no such thing as lack of cellphone connectivity. Calls suddenly disconnecting does not happen. The only reason I even know of these phenomena is because I've heard Americans speak of it. And, finally, service is cheap, dirt cheap, by US standards.