There may be regional rivalry between government-backed 5G projects (see separate item), with national pride and commercial interests at stake. But there are also many cross-regional partnerships, which will help to drive 5G to reality more rapidly, for everyone. The latest such alliance was announced last week by KT of Korea, which will work with AT&T on 5G and SDN/NFV developments. Executives from the two operators met at KT’s R&D Center and the companies aim to tap into one another’s key areas of R&D prowess – AT&T’s in SDN, and KT’s in 5G radio. Lee Dong-myeon, director of KT’s Technology Convergence Center, said the deal would “create synergies to solve challenges of the telecom industry in the future”. It will…