The Facebook-inspired Telecom Infra Project (TIP) has shown how the mobile industry could achieve a new cost base and a new open ecosystem in 5G, bringing itself more into line with sectors like WiFi. Now it is entering its second phase, in which we will see whether it really can result in an innovative, broad vendor landscape delivering carrier-class equipment while remaining open. That is the goal, and the reason many operators are supporting TIP, to try to break the stranglehold of a few vendors, and so to drive down their future network costs. But it is a tough challenge for a newly formed network of incubators and start-ups to catch up with the quality and performance of the equipment…