You are acting like we have some semblance of a free market, but we don't. To close a business deal AT&T had to agree to this blackmail by FedGov. And of course subscribes will pay for this. Who else can?
That reminds me of when we lived in PA - when a home builder wanted to obtain permits to put 9 or 10 homes on a piece of land he had acquired he had to promise all sorts of “improvements” to the Township. Sometimes it was adding trees to the perimeter, and sometimes it was widening a road....but always seemed like blackmail to me as well.