It’s probably a CYA thing: “We told you not to go out there; we didn’t tell you where it was so you wouldn’t go looking for it. Now, idiot, here’s the massive bill for the search & rescue team we had to send out to save your sorry ass.”

Exactly. In PA, after several municipalities demo’d that it could be done (the small town where I was living wired every home with fiber), then-Gov. Ed Rendell signed a law saying “no more municipal-owned ISPs”. Know where Rendell is from? Philly. Know what else is from Philly? COMCAST.  Not a coincidence.