Nokia was very clear, at its Global Analyst Forum in Helsinki last week, that it would be essential for operators to go cloud-native in order to reap the full benefits of 5G. In particular, MNOs must start planning to deploy a fully cloud-native 5G core when they move to the Standalone version of 5G New Radio (current networks use Non-Standalone, which works with the 4G core). The company acknowledged that not all the building blocks or skills are in place for this migration, except for operators which take on a very highly customized inhouse implementation (as sometimes seen in Japan, Korea and China). But the platforms are starting to come together, and the vendor outlined the benefits on offer, in…