One of the fears about the USA’s deteriorating relationship with China, which has resulted in intensifying sanctions against Huawei, is potential disruption to standards processes and international cooperation in organizations such as 3GPP. That could delay or weaken future 5G and 6G standards, and even lead to the mobile world splitting into two regional camps, with a return to the old days of GSM versus CDMA. While initial fears, back in 2019, were somewhat allayed when US and Chinese engineers were allowed to attend meetings alongside one another, the risk of a split into two sets of standards, and two incompatible ecosystems, remains real. That would reduce the economies of scale for operators and vendors, limit access to innovations from…