There are plenty of other cases, but the OP is right. The telco incumbents will use any means necessary - propaganda ("it's anti-capitalist!"), bribes (aka, lobbying) and lawsuits - to keep extracting as much profit as possible from people while delivering the barest minimum service possible.
This is so absurd. So basically US is not a democracy. From networks to cabs, everywhere these companies need protection from disruption. But if Uber can do it in cab services, can't all Cities group together and fight ?
Examples?
EDIT: Okay. Wow. Had no idea. Has any municipality tried to create a wireless mesh network that connected through a few high-bandwidth connections?