China has been the savior of the mobile infrastructure business twice before, injecting huge capex sums into networks just as other regions’ deployments were drying up. That will not be the case in 5G. China Mobile has already warned that it will only invest heavily when it sees a clear case, and the restructuring of China Unicom this month, coupled with a dramatic slashing of its capex budget, will worry suppliers further. The Unicom deal brings in a wide range of funding partners from different industries (see below) and while that could establish a blueprint for shared investment that could be emulated across the 5G world, it will certainly slow short term opportunities for network OEMs. To survive, vendors will…