Your claims are unfounded though. The example given in the article, India, is an anomaly. Most countries are very happy with auctions and the results, both fina

Your claims are unfounded though. The example given in the article, India, is an anomaly. Most countries are very happy with auctions and the results, both financially and coverage-wise. If they weren’t happy, why would they all keep running them? There are dozens of spectrum auctions planned over the next few years around the world, because every country realizes it’s the best way to raise money, the fairest way to distribute spectrum (ie they won’t get sued), and the best for consumers. Now, is every country perfectly set up for a successful auction? No - but in those cases you’ll see special rules meant to promote competition in the market. New entrants may receive discounts, or certain blocks of bands may be set aside for new entrants only. Big companies may be capped in how much additional spectrum they can purchase is another common case. These auctions are almost never straight up “take what you can get”. You can imagine in the US if that was the case then AT&T and Verizon would own all of it. My company writes the software for these spectrum auctions, and I’ve personally been a part of dozens of them.