The simple answer to this is to make point-to-point dark fiber a regulated monopoly, just like electricity. It's illegal for me to start my own electric distri

The simple answer to this is to make point-to-point dark fiber a regulated monopoly, just like electricity. It's illegal for me to start my own electric distribution company within the footprint of my power company. It's also illegal for them to deny me service, or to expand vertically into anything other than electrical local distribution. It would be so easy to do the same thing for dark fiber. Hold an auction, whoever wins gets to buy all the dark fiber that crosses property lines within the territory. In exchange, they have to divest ownership of any business that isn't dark fiber, and must lease point-to-point wavelengths on a fixed and published price schedule to any willing buyer. The electrical companies would be happy to do this. Mine already does, but only for certain areas where they had to run their own fiber anyways (basically along the major highways). They would be happy to expand to every doorstep if they were guaranteed a regulated monopoly just like they have for electrical lines. That would be a big enough market to allow their fiber department to split off from the electrical utility and become a standalone dark fiber utility. They don't want to be an ISP (they had the chance to become one and turned it down). They're just really good at hanging ADSS on poles and want to do a lot of that.