State representatives got together, said this wasn’t acceptable from a business which enjoyed numerous tax breaks and services provided by the government, and required them by law to lay the cable and provide the service, which had become a utility of sorts in its essential nature. That was, in turn, subsidized by a required Universal Charge on phone bills in the US.

The same thing is happening to mobile phones across the world, they are becoming ubiquitous utilities and a requirement for functioning in modern society. Not completely there yet, but getting there. The same kind of level playing field for consumers hasn’t reached critical mass yet. The mobile operators – around the world, not just in the US – are doing their best to lobby governments to keep things the way they are, which is not advantageous for consumers in any way, yet there they are still operating in the same manner. They know they have to reap the profits that they can get now before they are forced to provide services in a fair and peering manner without gouging. Otherwise, no tax breaks, no transport discounts, no low interest municipal loans. Will it get better? Eventually, but it’s going to take more outrage and more reason about quid pro quo with threat of the stick before these corporations are going to cease anti-consumer monopolies.