As is usually the case, AT&T and Verizon cleaned up at the recent AWS-3 auction, securing $18.2 and $10.4 billion in spectrum, respectively. But while the $45 billion secured at auction may have been great for the government coffers, T-Mobile CEO John Legere called it a "disaster" for American consumers in a blog post over at the T-Mobile website. Legere said the company's AWS-3 holdings allowed it to hang back this auction, but implied the company will be more active at next year's 600 MHz auction.

Critics have long accused AT&T and Verizon of warehousing far more spectrum than they need with an eye toward limiting new competitors, though both companies have repeatedly denied these accusations. Similarly, both companies have intensely fought against fairly modest rules ensuring that more spectrum gets into the hands of smaller competitors.

Legere is quick to point out that Dish, AT&T and Verizon alone spent $42 billion on 94% of the spectrum sold at the last auction. He also points out that AT&T and Verizon alone control 73 percent of the nation's low-band spectrum, and that next year's 600 MHz auction has to "be different if wireless competition is going survive."

In short, Legere wants rules in place for next year's auction that sets aside at least 40 MHz of spectrum for competitors that the nation's duopoly isn't allowed to grab. Legere also calls for new "use it or lose it" rules that require auction winners actually put the spectrum to use for consumer networks instead of "collecting and trading it like financial securities" -- a likely dig at Dish's Charlie Ergen.

Dish was able to grab $13.3 billion in spectrum at the auction courtesy of front companies and the exploitation of legal loopholes intended for "small businesses." While Dish claims it plans to build a wireless network of its own, many believe Ergen is just collecting a valuable public resource to be sold down the road for a tidy profit.