Many Americans live in places where they have precisely one choice for decent internet service — a situation that FCC chairman Tom Wheeler appears anxious to fix. In remarks on Wednesday in Minnesota, Wheeler took shots at “those who seek to block the competitive forces that can produce faster, cheaper, better broadband.”

He didn’t name names, but it’s a safe bet that companies like [company]AT&T[/company], which have leaned heavily on state and city legislators to block new telecom entrants, were on top of Wheeler’s mind.

Wheeler, who delivered his speech to a gaggle of government officials, pointed to the example of Lafayette, Louisiana, where incumbent telecom companies used lawsuits and a referendum to stop the town from building a fiber network. The city ultimately prevailed, and in turn induced the existing internet providers to upgrade their own networks, but it came at a cost of three years of expensive litigation.

Wheeler’s decision to speak out in support of Lafayette and other towns…