Japanese company NEC may never have secured a significant share of the wireless access network business, but its close relationship with operators in its homeland still make it influential on emerging wireless platforms and it is particularly prominent in cutting edge antenna designs. So while the firm’s MWC presence will mainly center on its virtualization, backhaul and smart city activities, as well as its new telco AI technology, its RAN initiatives are still closely watched. This week, the company has announced the results of trials of 5G Massive MIMO, conducted with Japan’s leading MNO, NTT Docomo, one of the most advanced operators in pushing towards next generation architectures. The partners said their 5G base station verification tests showed spectral efficiency…