> Have they declined as fast as they should have?

I always find this thought experiment interesting. It's fun thinking about the path dependencies of tech and gov't policy.

In hindsight, it's quite clear to me that given where we are today with the current state of internet technology, it would have been beneficial for maximal government intervention. We'd probably have broader coverage, lower prices, and the fast speeds we're starting to see today would've been rolled out more quickly if the government just built it all itself.

But this is in hindsight, and doesn't necessarily apply to the future. It very well may be the case for the intermediate future, too, but I would generally bet on the (sort of) free market over long time horizons when it comes to things that aren't quite broken. Housing and health care and energy (for f*cks sake, can we just utilize the super high energy density of uranium already!) = badly broken. Internet = 👌🤷 pretty decent.