IT MAY BE the most hyped technology since blockchain. But even sophisticated telecoms giants are now placing huge bets on 5G. In early December American regulators started the process of auctioning off radio-frequency bands needed to roll out superfast fifth-generation mobile networks. Industry experts had expected bids to come in at $25bn-30bn between them, less than the $45bn fetched in the last big 4G spectrum sale in 2015—but a tidy sum nonetheless.
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In fact, when the first part of the auction was concluded on December 23rd, the bids had reached a staggering
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