We fund it every couple of years and constantly give the telcos tax breaks on piles of things like utility easements or looking the other way on a multitude of issues. For example, Verizon simply pre-pays for double-parking violations in NYC. In the end the telcos still flogging DSL on lines the government has funded for upgrades to fiber several times over.

Don’t forget tricks like how if a single house has minimal broadband then the entire zip code is considered “served”.