In addition to being more open to big deals, Mr. Trump appears ready to do away with regulations on this oligopolistic industry. As it is, a lack of competition for some services is driving up prices. The cost of expanded basic cable TV service, for example, increased at twice the rate of inflation from 1995 to 2005, according to the F.C.C. Another commission report found that 51 percent of Americans live in areas served by only one broadband landline provider (10 percent live in places where there is no such service).

On the chopping block are net neutrality rules adopted by the F.C.C. in 2015 to prohibit companies like Comcast and Verizon from giving preference to some content over others. For example, Comcast is not allowed to engineer its broadband network to download movies and TV shows from its NBC Universal subsidiary faster than movies from Netflix. These rules were upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in June. But the F.C.C. under Mr. Trump is likely to repeal them. Once Mr. Trump appoints a new F.C.C. chairman, probably early next year, Republicans, who have been inveterate opponents of telecom regulation in recent years, will have a 3-to-2 majority on the commission; Democrats have a majority now.

One Republican commission member, Ajit Pai, for instance, said last week that net neutrality’s “days are numbered.” And a member of Mr. Trump’s transition team, Mark Jamison, suggested in October that most of the F.C.C. could be eliminated, with the much smaller agency focused on licensing wireless frequencies.

Public interest groups, Democratic lawmakers and sensible Republicans in Congress ought to vigorously oppose Mr. Trump’s deregulatory agenda. This won’t be easy, but they could, for example, try to challenge policy changes by filing lawsuits against the F.C.C., a tactic the telecom industry has used countless times over the years to stymie or delay regulations they opposed.