Long-distance communication

My internet connection travels from Australia to the US by means of an undersea cable between Sydney and somewhere in California. The land-based parts of this journey travel at a respectable speed, but both ends of the pipeline (although not the pipeline itself) seem to have a huge logjam, according to my traceroute numbers. Given that commerce would demand the maximum possible speed, and be prepared to pay for it, why does this still happen?

Because laying cables is expensive and no one wants to pay for it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma