Shrug maybe they could. They have yet to prove it in the real world in the US, as you mentioned.
I like that my ISP has no profit motive and is driven solely by customer/taxpayer satisfaction.
I wouldn’t like it if it became a political football, but so far so good. I think its safe for now because it is the same network used by the fire and police departments. Comcast really tried to kill it off.
Which is why I am happy to be a metallurgical engineer who can blacksmith…