> In many countries car is not something essential thanks to public transport.
Is that true in many entire countries? It seems like most of the countries I've visited, there are usually places within the country where transit isn't very good, and if you point at a map and say "I want to visit this part of the county" the answer is "You should rent a car, because there's no good transit connection there."
I absolutely believe this to be true in many cities, though.
Even in the US, which is already very HCoL, I think you seriously underestimate the number of households who've either never had who have cut household Internet. Lots of households where everyone's Internet access is on smartphones via MNVO mobile carriers, typically on $10-$20/mo/line plans with 5-25GB/mo/line.