Network slicing remains stuck in trial mode despite firm advocacy from some tier 1 operators such as Vodafone and Verizon. Operators remain concerned over uncertainties and “unknown unknowns” associated with full scale commercial network slicing, which would not all be identified or resolved by the current crop of field trials, however successful they are. Network slicing spanning a large area and supporting diverse use cases, including static and fast-moving devices, imposes additional challenges on top of the usual ones, because of the requirement to accommodate distinct QoS parameters over latency, bit rate, transaction volume, availability and security. Sticking points can be defined under three broad headings. First is the ability to mix slice use cases on a particular device smoothly,…