The telephone, electric service, piped-in gas, and even city water were all seen, at various times, as luxuries rather than necessities. Their regulation as utilities is part of what allowed them to become both ubiquitous and dependable, and as a result allowed people to start to depend on them.
In particular, there's no reason why IP-based networks ought to be viewed as less important than telephone service, given that telephony is rapidly becoming just one of many services that happens to be delivered over IP networks.
In particular, there's no reason why IP-based networks ought to be viewed as less important than telephone service, given that telephony is rapidly becoming just one of many services that happens to be delivered over IP networks.