Here is an interesting discussion from SlashDot. As Verizon brings fiber to a customer premise, they disconnect the copper phone line. This means it is no longer available for use by competitors, who can buy wholesale access to the line for voice and data services.
I am not reporting this to beat up on Verizon. Now, if I was running Verizon, I would probably do this too. It makes no sense to continue to have the cost and expense of maintaining antiquated copper infrastructure just so that your competitors can try to sell services to your customers. But it does illustrate the need for communities to take telecom infrastructure needs seriously. If you leave it entirely to the private sector, your residents and customers get only what private network operators are willing to provide. For businesses, this may not match what they need or what they can afford.
Do you want to hand over your economic development future to a third party? If the answer is "No," then your community or region has to at least begin to look seriously at alternatives, like building digital road systems that any company, including incumbents like Verizon, can use to deliver services.