Yeah, everyone's anxious, especially after they see the actual costs involved with construction. You'll notice many of those stories die into obscurity.
I think municipally owned hydro companies are best suited, but do we really want the state supplying our internet? The laws to attach to utility poles with hydro on them changed dramatically in 2009. The hydro companies that have not kept up on their infrastructure will incur huge costs trying to implement something like this. I suspect that is the majority.