Some operators believe the momentum behind Open RAN gives them their best opportunity ever to shake up their supply chains, introduce new ideas to the 5G RAN, and reduce their dependence on a shrinking group of large equipment vendors. And several governments or regional powers are equally fascinated by Open RAN as a way to build or expand a homegrown industry for 5G, and therefore generate not just new revenues, but global influence in a key technology. (It remains to be seen how the Chinese intellectual property and innovation that is feeding into the Open RAN ecosystem will be handled, given the overtly or implicitly anti-Chinese nature of some of the initiatives.) All this is certainly generating a welcome burst…