There is certainly a socialist faction in the internet user community that believes the net is a "public utility" somehow owned and controlled by some larger organization. They believe they have a "right" to unlimited use of this "public utility". They are dead wrong. The only part of the network that the FCC has any legal hooks in regulating to the telephone and cable companies. They provide the raw network paths between points to that large body of private businesses that run ISP businesses and server farms. The phome companies have to make a capital investment for their network equipment and generally are guaranteed a small, fixed rate of return over an allowed equipment service life. Rates are adjusted periodically to ensure a net profit for the "common carrier". They are content agnostic. It's bandwidth between two points with an agreed level of reliability of service. The telco business isn't very glamorous. I spent 12 years there as a network and IT engineer before moving on to more interesting work as a DoD contractor.
Thanks for your comments. I work in the software industry and must confess I have/had that “public utility” thought. In my defense, I wasn’t aware of the things you point out. I now understand quite a bit more thanks to your effort. You’ve gone a long way to turning me around.