Many operators had interesting demonstrations, trials and breakthroughs in Barcelona, but we picked out AT&T for special focus because its activities epitomize the transition of many telcos – however painful it may be – towards a modern cloud-based world with new technologies and partners. AT&T’s ground-breaking deal to transfer its Network Cloud and 5G core to Microsoft Azure was announced months ago, but was a topic of discussion throughout MWC, as it sets a precedent that is exciting for some non-greenfield operators, threatening for others. Also, AT&T announced its own deal with Rakuten Symphony (see separate item on Symphony); and a partnership with Intel to develop ‘RAN pooling’ – a dynamic use of distributed unit resources within an Open RAN.…