The social problem wasn't labor at all. Workers are easy to hire if you've got the money and can make money back off the result. Hell, the economy needs more and better-paying jobs anyway, right?
The social problem is that putting in infrastructure requires making deals with property-owners and municipalities. I'm getting this from people who've worked for ISPs and other such enterprises: the biggest problem with new infrastructure businesses is getting cities and towns to agree to let you construct overhead poles (which "ruin the view") or tear up the ground under their streets (which closes whole blocks of road for a while).
In many cases, the money can be made back, the labor is workable, the invention is workable, but the right-of-way on private and public property is uneconomical to obtain.
The social problem is that putting in infrastructure requires making deals with property-owners and municipalities. I'm getting this from people who've worked for ISPs and other such enterprises: the biggest problem with new infrastructure businesses is getting cities and towns to agree to let you construct overhead poles (which "ruin the view") or tear up the ground under their streets (which closes whole blocks of road for a while).
In many cases, the money can be made back, the labor is workable, the invention is workable, but the right-of-way on private and public property is uneconomical to obtain.