[giantrobot]

Universities aren't always better than private companies with respect to patents and licensing. Sometimes they're much worse because there's no real reciprocity of licensing.

Governments could set up national labs to develop communication technologies but they're not going to be competitive with private companies pay wise. If you're a radio engineer you can be stuck on a government schedule salary or get a nice six figure "Tech Company" salary and fat stock options. Why work at the government lab when your same skills will get to twice as much at Apple or Qualcomm?

I'm not arguing for the status quo but the alternatives aren't necessarily better for the public nor the engineers doing the work.