Well, if this is true, it explains a lot as to why the U.S. is dragging far behind Japan and Korea (and probably soon Malaysia) in deploying broadband Internet:

Thumbnail  — In extensive detail, (over 460 footnotes, 330 pages) I prove, with the Bell’s own data, that  the Bell companies systematically lied about their previous fiber deployments  in order to get  changes to state laws to give them more money to build these networks. — What was  promised was fiber to the home, 45mbps, bi- directional, and capable of 500 channels, deployed in rural, urban and suburban areas equally.

By 2006, 86 million households should have been rewired.  More to the  point, these networks were funded by customers — about $2000 per household.

— $200 Billion Broadband Scandal by Bruce Kushnick

Meanwhile, Japan and Korea, seeing what was proposed in the states, went ahead and did it in their countries.