Sweden has the 4th highest internet usage in the world, the 5th highest mobile broadband usage in the world, and the second fastest average internet speeds. So, you may not be the best comparison either.
In Wyoming, USA, the population density is 2.31/km2. But 100% of the people can get at least 10Mbps internet, 79% have >25Mbps internet. But again, big states, bigger country, and due to both governmental differences, differences in internet providers, and the different costs of providing service in different regions, we don't spread the cost of service out evenly.
It looks really easy when you're looking at the problem from 40,000 feet. On the ground, it's much more complicated.
I don't get the deal with tethering here, either, but I think there are probably reasons for it. If any provider here just threw tethering in for free, while undercutting the cost of the competitors, people would flock to them. The fact that this doesn't happen means it's probably hard to make money on it, for reasons unknown.
I've had tethering for years from t-mobile in the US. I've had at least two different plans over that time, and I don't recall ever having to explicitly request it or pay extra to get it.
Like all the other US providers, plans change frequently, very few have unlimited plans, and none that I know of have unlimited-speed unlimited-data tethering plans.
Currently, for $45, the best you can get on T-Mobile is 4GB of unlimited-speed tethered data, and for $70 you can get 512KB/s tethering. The cheapest mostly-unlimited data plan (including fewer limits for tethering) for one line costs $95. Older plans, which had cost less and had less limits, have been mostly phased out.
Another sad irony is to get the cheaper plan, you have to get a credit check, which dents your credit score, just to acquire a "pre-paid" plan. Also, T-Mobile's website seems to have been scrubbed of their prepaid plans, so probably you can only find details via interrogating their salespeople.
In 2006~ish, I think I had to pay t-mobile about $10-20/mo to be able to tether my Moto Razr at fairly low speeds but unlimited data. By the time I jailbreak'd an iPhone for use on the network, I didn't have to pay anything extra beyond the plan data, so it's been quite a long time.
In Wyoming, USA, the population density is 2.31/km2. But 100% of the people can get at least 10Mbps internet, 79% have >25Mbps internet. But again, big states, bigger country, and due to both governmental differences, differences in internet providers, and the different costs of providing service in different regions, we don't spread the cost of service out evenly.
It looks really easy when you're looking at the problem from 40,000 feet. On the ground, it's much more complicated.
I don't get the deal with tethering here, either, but I think there are probably reasons for it. If any provider here just threw tethering in for free, while undercutting the cost of the competitors, people would flock to them. The fact that this doesn't happen means it's probably hard to make money on it, for reasons unknown.