There was little surprise that the three national telcos were also the three big winners in the USA’s recent auction of C-band spectrum in 3.7-3.98 GHz. The results of Auction 107 showed that, for all the talk of diversification of the mobile business in 5G, this is not yet affecting the outcomes of major auctions, unless a regulator intervenes to ensure this. What was a surprise was the vast sum Verizon paid, investing over $45.5bn in gross bids in its effort to make up for the lack of midband spectrum that has severely constrained its 5G efforts in the first phase. The need to acquire midband frequencies, which support high 5G capacity without the engineering and propagation challenges of millimeter…