Broadband Speeds Are Improving in Many Places. Too Bad It Took Google to Make It Happen. | MIT Technology Review

The article title -- The Wait-for-Google-to-Do-It Strategy -- could be generalized; in multiple domains, there appears to be an implicit wait-for-Google-and/or-Elon-Musk-to-do-it strategy

"The unnerving thing is that so much of the present and future of broadband has come down to the whims of a single company, and a company that, in many ways, doesn’t look or act much like most American firms. If Google didn’t have such a dominant position in search and online advertising, giving it the resources to make big investments without any requirement of immediate return, Google Fiber wouldn’t have happened. And if Google’s leadership weren’t willing to make big long-term investments in projects outside the core business, or if the company didn’t have a dual-share structure that preserved its founders’ power and somewhat insulated its executives from Wall Street pressure, gigabit connections would more than likely be a fantasy in the United States today. As Levin puts it, “We got fortunate that a company with a real long-term view came into this market.” It might be good to design technology policy so that next time around, we don’t need to get so lucky."

Broadband Speeds Are Improving in Many Places. Too Bad It Took Google to Make It Happen. | MIT Technology Review