It seems like a classic "just so" story to me, perfect for keeping the public in the dark. I'd think a serious and honest country would develop standard systems that is capable of serving the needs of the majority of users (providers and customers) and then charge proportionally for usage, or else just leave it as funded by the government.
It seems to me that the US Government can get impressive things done if they set their mind to it - as examples, consider their prowess at things like propaganda and waging war.
Idk about the propaganda, but the US is really really bad at waging war. The US just has a ton of resources and willingness to spend outsized amount of budget on "defense."
