Agreed. This is a topic worthy of discussion all on its own!
Wonder how much of colo/DC operator space and revenue public cloud is eating in 2018?
NAPAfrica employ a "free x-connect" model to peer at their exchange
point provided you are a paying customer within their (Teraco) data
centre in South Africa.
Any x-connects you order that are not going to touch the exchange
point are charged for (nowhere near the pricing you're typically
seeing the U.S., I might add).
They have gone one step further and offered free ports at their
exchange point for their members. Again, provided you are a paying
customer within their data centre.
The model has been wildly successful, making it the largest data
centre in Africa in a span of (if my memory is correct) a little
under 3 years, far surpassing some that were there before.
So, just an example of an element where a free-and-pay element has
been reasonably successful without any rent-seeking behaviour.