While the GSMA rages against the European Union for its hostility to MNO consolidation, in South Korea, the three mobile operators will conduct a joint 5G launch to “avoid excessive competition”. This will be based on a significant degree of infrastructure sharing, as mandated earlier this year by the government. State intervention to manipulate competition and force sharing would be anathema to the EU’s pro-competition stance, but – given the advanced state of South Korea’s mobile services and networks – this approach should not be dismissed too easily. In Europe and other mature mobile markets, MNOs are certainly facing “excessive competition” as price wars rage in saturated countries where consumers will undoubtedly demand 5G services, when those emerge, for the…