Why Switzerland has 25 Gbit internet and America doesn't

The Swiss playbook: long game, public backbone

Switzerland didn’t stumble onto 25 Gbit fiber by accident. It has been reported that Swiss cantons and municipalities treated fiber like public infrastructure — a backbone to be planned, financed, and in many places owned collectively — rather than a short-term product to be auctioned to the highest bidder. The result: widespread fiber-to-the-home deployments, open-access wholesale models that let multiple retail providers compete over one neutral network, and upgrade paths that scale to tens of gigabits without ripping up streets every few years. In short: plan once, build well, and let competition happen where it matters — at the services layer.

The U.S. lesson: fragmentation, incentives, and friction

Why not the U.S.? Several things. The American model favored private incumbents, vertical integration, and incremental upgrades (hello, DOCSIS) instead of a clean fiber-first rewrite. It has been reported that state laws in many places restrict municipal broadband, permitting is slower, right-of-way fees and franchise rules are a maze, and investors demand faster returns than a multi-decade infrastructure horizon allows. Allegedly, that mix nudges builders toward “good enough” upgrades that keep margin high rather than future-proof networks that don’t pay off in a single quarter. The patchwork of cities, counties, and utility poles makes large, economy-of-scale fiber projects harder and more expensive than in a small, dense country used to coordinating public works.

Can America catch up?

Policy choices matter. Federal funding programs now try to move the needle — subsidies are on the table, and a lot of money is headed toward last-mile builds — but dollars alone won’t flip the switch. Lowering permitting friction, enabling open-access models, and rethinking the incentives that push private players toward incrementalism would help. Easier said than done? Sure. But the emotional punch here is clear: when ordinary people in Switzerland can sign up for tens of gigabits and most Americans still grumble about throttled plans and data caps, this isn’t just about technology. It’s about priorities, governance, and who we trust to build the roads of the 21st century. Want broadband that doesn’t feel like dial-up with lipstick? Then expect political will, not just venture capital, to show up.

Sources: sschueller.github.io, Hacker News