This seems like a waste. Once you hook it up, is it profitable for the state to maintain the connection? For example, let's say you spend $1 million to hook up

This seems like a waste. Once you hook it up, is it profitable for the state to maintain the connection? For example, let's say you spend $1 million to hook up 20 rural houses. Where will the funding come from to maintain that connection over the next 50 years? Tax payers from cities? In my opinion, a better approach is to either deregulate/regulate so that current regions can't sign exclusive contracts with big carrier like Comcast/AT&T/Verizon. Make it really easy and legal for residents in rural areas, who want high speed broadband, to easily run their own lines and maintain them. Running a single line to some random rural location that someone decided to live in using tax payer money is just not efficient use of money.