Ensuring universal service is something that governments try to do for things considered "essential": electricity, water, postal service, and broadband Internet.
The reason that Verizon signs contracts to serve all of a city like Wilmington, DE is that there are enough households who can afford it to make it worth their while. If Google comes and picks off the highest-value customers, the mix of remaining customers may not be worth serving from Verizon's perspective, and they may exit the market. (And even if Google is blocked by municipal governments, alternatives like WiMAX and its successors are much harder to block).
I don't think there's an easy solution to this problem. If you just let the market do its thing, then fewer people will have access to Internet overall. The tradeoff isn't easy.
The reason that Verizon signs contracts to serve all of a city like Wilmington, DE is that there are enough households who can afford it to make it worth their while. If Google comes and picks off the highest-value customers, the mix of remaining customers may not be worth serving from Verizon's perspective, and they may exit the market. (And even if Google is blocked by municipal governments, alternatives like WiMAX and its successors are much harder to block).
I don't think there's an easy solution to this problem. If you just let the market do its thing, then fewer people will have access to Internet overall. The tradeoff isn't easy.