In wired world, the carriers were granted monopoly to dig the trenches... In the wireless world, companies rely on exclusive monopoly licenses to spectrum
There are two different scopes of monopoly here. My house is bathed in the waves of at least four different cellular networks; that's not really a monopoly.
So basically every company is a "monopoly" because only they can use their property. And AFAIK any company could have bought spectrum (e.g. cable companies bought spectrum).
There are two different scopes of monopoly here. My house is bathed in the waves of at least four different cellular networks; that's not really a monopoly.