CenturyLink, Frontier took FCC cash, failed to deploy all required broadband

Breaking up AT&T led to phenomenal innovation and growth. We've gone from not being able to own things like phones (had to lease them from AT&T) and not being able to use telephone answering systems (not invented by AT&T, so not AT&T equipment, so not allowed on the network), to where we are today.

But one of the costs was to make it easier for that growth to bypass large parts of the US. The baby Bells like Frontier that were in less desirable regions no longer share in the wealth generated by the ones like Verizon.