> This is a pretty terrible justification for maintaining obsolete infrastructure.

This is your own (wrong) conclusion.

The problem isn't about obsolete infrastructure as the infrastructure isn't bad (fiber).

The problem is about small companies in a small market (<500000 inhabitants) competing on price with an international juggernaut.

It's obviously difficult for Local ISP(s) to have a good ROI when you're deploying fiber for <50000 customers.

If Starlink comes in and provides slightly better service at half the price, it's gonna be pretty bad for the local companies.

It's obsolete until Elon goes into a fit an decides for whatever reason he doesn't like you.

Spinning off Starlink into its own publicly traded company has been talked about for quite a while. I believe even Musk has mentioned it. If that were to happen, especially if Musk wasn't the majority shareholder and/or head of the company, his personal quirks would cease to matter. But you'd still have to be in the good graces of whoever happened to be in control of the United States at the time.

Historically speaking it is never in the interests of any country to be 100% beholden to a US corporation with high political motivations and an unstable CEO.