To provide convincing justification for the near term 5G investment, operators need to deliver either cost reduction or a revenue increase to their investors (or preferably both). But in the early stages, many operators are falling down in at least one of these areas, and often both. Very few operators are finding themselves able to charge a price premium for 5G, and even some who did, like the USA’s Verizon, have quickly had to remove it (technically Verizon still charges a premium, but it has effectively removed it with recent ‘special offers’ that may become permanent). The prospect of price wars even coming to the high-ARPU USA (see separate item) is causing significant nervousness among operators round the world. And…