I'll give a different example: Romania (mostly) skipped (A/V)DSL and went directly to optical fiber, which resulted in having the top-spot in download speed for

I'll give a different example: Romania (mostly) skipped (A/V)DSL and went directly to optical fiber, which resulted in having the top-spot in download speed for a couple of years. The US started from 100m ahead - the level Europe was at the time - so they already had a foundation - and (imo) made it easier to look ahead from atop a (100m) mound.