Over the next few years we should start seeing the same type of thing for internet connections. Despite all the backbone building we still have major problems with the last mile. When a 155 megabit trunk terminates on a 10 megabit ethernet at a university campus or a business, there is a serious impedence mismatch. We have to invest money at the end site. For every dollar that went into national infrastructure in the US over the past decade, it's estimated that roughly 100 dollars went into local infrastructure.
Local infrastructure is very much the most expensive part of the equation.
Now the local infrastructure needs a massive upgrading to gigabit ethernet, ATM, or other new technologies to support the class of applications that are coming. We also still have to solve the problem of access to home and small business sites. Dialup now using the asymmetric 56 kilobit modem standard. There are some basic signalling limits, so this speed can't be pushed much farther. 56 kilobits isn't going to cut it.