[mmaunder]

“Soon, the mobile phones for which we are now paying $40 US per month or more may work for practically no cost. Won't it be interesting to watch our widely-hated wireless telecommunication companies struggle to stay in business?”

Competing using a shared chunk of 900Mhz? Not likely. 5G uses millimeter bands (20Ghz to 60Ghz) that provide up to 20Gbps of bandwidth. A public shared scheme using 900Mhz isn’t going to compete with that.

Spectrum is the pipe and whoever has the biggest pipes wins. It’s a bit like telling the public they can compete with an oil pipeline using a shared straw.