Multiple companies working in a much smaller area. (The Netherlands is smaller than 41 states http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_b

Multiple companies working in a much smaller area. (The Netherlands is smaller than 41 states http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_area http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territo... but has a larger population than 45 states http://www.ipl.org/div/stateknow/popchart.html http://www.ipl.org/div/stateknow/popchart.html) It costs an awful lot more to build the infrastructure needed. Because of this cost, many cities offer monopolies for a number of years so the city doesn't have to spend the money to build the infrastructure itself. In Austin, that is pretty much Time Warner Cable and ATT. Since the announcement ATT has been pushing to get Gigabit fiber out (I'm currently using it), that would have never happened if Google wasn't coming into town.