Responding solely to the 'moat' question: think railroad price wars in the late 1800s in the US.
Industries with capital expenses relatively large compared to contribution margin tend towards local monopolies. When faced with a potential new entrant the incumbent can lower prices to where the entrant's assets can't return their cost of capital. The incumbent's capital is already sunk so they can afford to bring prices close to the marginal cost of providing the service. This threat of a price war is usually enough to deter entry.
This also leads to agglomeration in local markets both to avoid duplicative assets and to add credence to the price war threat.
Industries with capital expenses relatively large compared to contribution margin tend towards local monopolies. When faced with a potential new entrant the incumbent can lower prices to where the entrant's assets can't return their cost of capital. The incumbent's capital is already sunk so they can afford to bring prices close to the marginal cost of providing the service. This threat of a price war is usually enough to deter entry.
This also leads to agglomeration in local markets both to avoid duplicative assets and to add credence to the price war threat.