Last week’s Mobile World Congress Shanghai was a powerful showcase, given its location, for the progress Chinese operators and vendors are making towards 5G. Indeed, it was hard for other players to get a look-in, but that did not take away from some genuinely interesting demonstrations by the local giants. There were the inevitable events centered on the 5G New Radio in various spectrum bands, but some of the more significant demoes were focused on the surrounding architecture which will be, arguably, more important than the radio itself in delivering the promises of 5G convergence and diversity. For instance, China Mobile and Huawei showcased the world’s first 5G core network prototype using the early 3GPP specs for a 5G service-based…