Yeah, and laws like that are unfortunate (and likely to get overturned). Franchise agreements exist specifically because the buildout costs are so high. Many l

Yeah, and laws like that are unfortunate (and likely to get overturned). Franchise agreements exist specifically because the buildout costs are so high. Many locales place regulations on telecom companies (such as the aforementioned requirement that a company serve an entire city and not just the wealthy neighborhoods) but in order for companies to be able to be profitable under those regulations, they ask for a franchise agreement in return. Google Fiber has so far been able to avoid these complications because they're picking and choosing their markets. They go after unencumbered markets where they can deliver service to only the wealthy parts of town (Austin being a great example -- anything inside the city limits is relatively wealthy while the less wealthy folks live in the far-flung suburbs. Kansas City is another; the poor part of town is in Kansas and the wealthy part is in MO and governed by a different authority.) I'm not convinced they'll ever go nationwide exactly because they don't want to deal with these complications.