> making it even more difficult for there to be any competition against these monopolies
If your snappy upstart cellular network can't afford to give out Yubikeys to employees, I don't want you interconnecting with the rest of the phone system.
Also, startups have such an advantage now that there is an ecosystem of COTS and SaaS tooling that can help you do a complete integration strategy. It's arguable MFA regulations would advantage startups because they don't have to deal with the complexity of legacy network piecemeal integration.
I planned and did the roll out of Yubikeys at the last place I worked, before there was a dollar in sales, and the lifecycle could be supported with 2 people (minutes at most out of each day for support) and an integration to our HR platform that automated procurement and mailing of keys.
If your snappy upstart cellular network can't afford to give out Yubikeys to employees, I don't want you interconnecting with the rest of the phone system.