[tw25485966]

>Instead of saying "anyone is allowed to dig up the road, bury cables and let the customers choose the provider with the best service" we often allow only one or two cable providers and add some special rules to make them treat their hostage customers better.

Wouldn't installing conduit be a still-better option for consumers? Also, the government-granted ISP monopoly approach prohibits would-be providers that don't need to use cable.

Anyway, your dichotomy ignores the historical reality: local politicians subsidized builds by promising providers they didn't have to worry about competition, subsidies extracted from the future captured customers, subsidies that are in fact the very things people complain about now.