The cost would be borne by the consumers of Telcos / wireless services rather than by all taxpayers.
The Telcos would allocate funding / resources based on their financial position and their needs.
I dunno, tbh maybe the government can do a better job at right-sizing the service and running it efficiently than the private sector could? Maybe! But it feels like most arguments along these lines would also apply to the Telcos themselves, i.e, if government can do a better job why not nationalise the Telcos?
Companies develop closed source technology that benefits them (as it is expect).
This is done X times (where X is companies that offer services).
A government agency does preferably develop open source or atleast nationally available knowledge/solutions.
What we are talking about is basic research, e.g. developing the physics and computer science behind networking. It’s common for governments to fund those types of investigations, and private companies often prefer it that way.
It is risky in that the work is open-ended and “wins” are hard to predict. But when they are found, they benefit everyone. And then industry can swing into action commercializing it.
