I'm not trying to imply that the commercial marketplace is evil. I am saying that it has primary interests other than those of free speech and democracy and it would be even unnatural for us to expect it to put these before profit. There are profound moral questions that arise relating to communication and these will not be answered by a free-market. Like the effect of copyright laws on free access to information in libraries, we might find that what seems like a straightforward decision has great implications for non-market aspects of our society. It isn't just a matter of laying new wire and moving into new markets.
Communication is the very stuff of society.
It's what we have built our civilization on. If you look at the social role of telecommunications system, rather than its technology or its market, you can come up with a set of requirements. It is only under this condition that we can even strive for some semblance of democracy, because this communications system will probably be an important part of how people participate in political and social debate in the future. Since many communities are too small to be a viable commercial market, the best way to accomplish this is to make it possible for communities to provide their own information. They know what it is, they know the audience, they may be the only ones who care.