One response/workaround: Guerrilla networking.
Why, in part? Because there's nothing much to target, financially. In some ways, legally. Instead, the incumbents have to elicit suppression through regulators and law enforcement, if they can.
Google has deep pockets. But it could spend years trying to get access to poles. Incumbents don't just pay to oppose; they pay to slow things down as much as possible. Good luck deploying, when you have to wait 6 months for a court case, that's then going to get appealed.
Stay under the radar. That's a whole different approach.
And communities are getting desperate enough to try anything that might actually work.
While I cheer them on, I simultaneously hope the press coverage doesn't bring the corporate mercenaries down on their heads.