It is interesting how in some rural areas, the update to infrastructure is happening via co-ops or small local firms. Volcano, CA and surrounding has it's own small telecom. Plumas County has a coop that is both installing fiber as well as buying up old cable resources to deliver broadband that way. Rock Island Internet in the San Juan Islands (WA state) is installing Fiber on Lopez Island. Cruzio in Santa Cruz, CA is doing both point to point wifi and working with the city on installing Fiber. This is just a few examples that I happen to personally know about.
The same is happening even in relatively highly populated areas in The Netherlands. The telco's can't be motivated to invest in fiber optics, probably because they can charge more for 4 and 5G networks, with datacaps.
