There is a broad assumption that 5G will end up being an umbrella platform which includes a range of radio access technologies under its heavily virtualized canopy. Many of the R&D projects feeding into 5G – from vendors, governments, operators or academic institutions – are focused on this endlessly flexible, sliceable, programmable network. But in terms of specific radio standards, the process is being driven, just as in 3G and 4G, by the 3GPP, and while there was a very wide range of submissions to its kick-off meeting last September, its processes and concerns do not seem to have changed as radically as the brand new requirements of 5G might demand. There is no real reason why this should be…