AT&T, DT and SKT – reduce vendor power without opening the door to Facebook

Vodafone, Verizon and China Mobile formed a hugely influential triumvirate driving LTE standards in 4G’s early days, and a different trio is shaping up to write the rules for 5G. AT&T, Deutsche Telekom and SK Telecom are working together on an increasingly wide range of partnerships geared to different aspects of the new network, and these go beyond the two-way ‘strategic alliances’ which are ten-a-penny in the 5G arena. The latest joint initiative by this transcontinental group may be the most important, because it focuses on virtualization and software-defined networking (SDN), areas where lack of standards and interoperability is a significant deterrent for many operators. Indeed, it sets out an ambitious program to move away from proprietary networks, and looks…