The industry is no closer to having a clear answer to whether the 5G Standalone network core will serve as the basis for 6G, than it was last year. The expectation is that this will be the case, but a clear answer to that question looks set to be provided at the ITU’s WRC-27 conference in November 2027 – just two years ahead of the expected launch of 6G. This does not give us, collectively, much time to prepare for 6G, in the wake of that decision. Worse, it implies continued limbo until this point, where vendors follow their roadmaps and hope disruption does not strike. Any scent of a new 6G core in the air will undermine the 5G…