A few months ago, Ericsson’s departed CEO Hans Vestberg was calling on the industry to focus on conventional, standardized delivery methods for 5G, rather than getting too hung up on drones and balloons. This month, Ericsson has moved to the forefront of the growing trend to use drones to extend mobile connectivity, partnering with China Mobile for a field trial of what, the companies claim, is the first ‘5G-enabled’ drone system. Of course, 5G is not defined, but the claim rests on the fact that the drone system has emerged from Ericsson’s 5G R&D program, and has been designed to the low latency levels foreseen for next generation networks, in order to enable applications in the emergency services and other…