Terence Corcoran: The biggest cellphone price gouger is Ottawa

Later this year, in a fandango of hype, Ottawa will auction off spectrum that will form the basis of the much-anticipated 5G wireless era. Instead of trying to use the 5G spectrum tax to reduce Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s ballooning deficits, and drive wireless costs higher, maybe the Liberal politburo could find a way to allow the telecommunications industry to homestead the spectrum.

Just give the spectrum away to the incumbent companies and then let them innovate and compete with much lower built-in costs.