As expected, the 3GPP has agreed to a proposal to fast-track standardization of a subset of the 5G New Radio (NR) specifications. That means the non-standalone technology – which requires an LTE anchor network and core – will be frozen at the end of this year, six months ahead of schedule, which could enable standards-based 5G deployments as early as 2019. The standalone specs, which do not require any LTE network, will follow in mid-2018 as planned. “A major decision was taken this week in RAN on the 5G new radio workplan,” said 3GPP chairman Dino Flore. “In particular, the group agreed to have an intermediate milestone for the early completion of the non-standalone (NSA) 5G NR mode.” He added:…