From what I understand...part of it is:
In the 90's Congress gave the telcos massive tax breaks and incentives and
in return the telcos
would invest in infrastructure to support the growing internet age. Telco
fatcats took the money and ran.
(I believe we are ranked something like 16th when it comes to internet
infrastructure. Behind countries like South Korea that have fiber access for
everyone.)
Anyway... now Telcos want to setup this tierred structure to pay for the
infrastructure that was already paid for.