[ajross]

I don't think this follows. In the US, for example, virtually every metro area has four national providers. They race against each other to roll out new devices and new network technologies.

The text charges are more of a historical addiction. Outside the US, voice charges were historically much higher (because they were priced to compete with the higher land line rates). So users flocked to SMS as a way to communicate more cheaply. In the US, voice charges on cell networks were comparatively cheap. Text was an "extra" that could be sold at a huge markup. And that revenue is hard to give up.