Because of the great startup costs and high demand, telecommunications (such as Internet, cable TV, and cellular phone service) are a natural monopoly much like natural gas, electricity, water, and telephone access.
A great many consumers express significant dissatisfaction with their telecoms provider, but due to the existence of telecoms monopolies or oligopolies, they often have no better alternative, and are forced to pay unreasonable rates for mediocre service.
We ask the Obama administration to acknowledge that telecoms are a natural monopoly, just as previous governments have acknowledged that other utilities are natural monopolies, so that they can be regulated by the government to ensure that consumers receive competitive telecoms service.