Well he to take a look at a map and consider the differences in
> geography and demographics. It's pretty easy to have good wireless
> coverage in densely-populated postage-stamp sized countries,
> especially when not encumbered by zoning ("you are NOT going to put
> that tower where I can see it!").
That's an excellent point.
Many articles complain about the United States compared to other countries. Certainly in some cases the complaints are valid.
However, we must be sure we're making an apples-to-apples comparison and understand all the business-environment differences.
What seems particularly strange is that in the days the Bell System the U.S. consistently was far ahead of other countries with telephone service. I wonder if perhaps the lack of landline service options fueled growth of cell phones in other countries. That is, in other places the cell phone is the only phone they have because a traditional phone line was either unavailable or too expensive.
In one sense developing an all-new cellular system is easier than land lines since no expensive street house-to-house cabling is required. Central office electronics are relatively cheap now.