Or: see the UK and Netherlands, where government regulation improved service by forcing more competition in the broadband market [1], i.e. exactly the opposite of your "regulated to death" claim.
In all three of those examples, increased competition seems to have been the real explanation for reduced prices and improved service, not deregulation as you claim.
https://www.engadget.com/2011/06/28/why-is-european-broadban...
ISPs in countries like Romania blossomed because many small providers were able to compete with each other from the outset. In the US, the initially fragmented market (the "Baby Bells" etc.) have congealed into just a few major players that have no incentive to compete.
How do you know that's the reason?
For those interested, I looked up the story:
http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/headline-story/...
the same World Bank study that applauded Romania’s well-connected cities cautioned about a digital divide. A much larger share of Romanians have ultra-fast internet connections compared to other European countries, yet one-third of the country’s population has never used the internet. Half of all households have no broadband connection—half of households don’t even have a computer, for that matter.