They surely did influence the process. But it is also true that any rational business would have bid less for spectrum with a neutrality or open access mandate

They surely did influence the process. But it is also true that any rational business would have bid less for spectrum with a neutrality or open access mandate. I don't have much sympathy for AT&T on this one, though, since they've been trying to do the same thing to their competitors by pushing wired net neutrality. Any new regulation upsets the calculations and forecasts that businesses made to justify the risk of expending capital.