It is classic regulatory capture. US telecom, historically, basically owns the regulators. Occasionally, like now, the FCC pushes back a bit. Combine that with

It is classic regulatory capture. US telecom, historically, basically owns the regulators. Occasionally, like now, the FCC pushes back a bit. Combine that with large regions of low population density and a lot of land, and we have very little competition in the vast majority of the country.