>Most of Europe did just fine with state owned telecommunication companies which lasted well into the 1990s or even the 2000s.

Early 2000s were the times when 50Mbit in Eastern Europe when it was the wild west cost 10eur/month through lan cable and in Western Europe ADSL and ISDN cost multitude of the cost for fraction of the speed.

Early 2000s is exactly the time period when telecommunications companies in Europe were well on their way to privatization, if not already fully privatized.

You are proving my point.