Yes, but that's hard to calculate. What you really want to calculate is linear density. My best approximation for this is people per mile of road. This is easy

Yes, but that's hard to calculate. What you really want to calculate is linear density. My best approximation for this is people per mile of road. This is easy to calculate and this data is readily available. Sweden has 10 people per mile of road. The US has 30 people per mile of road. Sweden simply does better, despite having to deploy more infrastructure to provide service. Sweden used to have a state telecom monopoly which then became the incumbent. You are right that regulatory capture has played a big part in the development of the telecommunications sector. Sweden had a strong incumbent, but that did not stop the municipalities and power companies from building out competing fiber networks, nor stop the regulator from acting in the best interest of the people. So, the big difference was that the Swedes had both political support for building fiber networks and a more can do attitude towards getting things done, without excluding large parts of the community.