Last year, there was a lot of hype around the deployment of 5G Standalone (SA) networks, which rely on the new cloud-native 5G core, rather than the 4G packet core like 5G Non-standalone. But it turns out that, even though most of the interesting new services that 5G is tipped to support do require the new core, only 19 operators have actually deployed one so far. The high profile of the frontrunners, such as T-Mobile USA and China Mobile, seem to have convinced the industry, last year, that the floodgates were about to burst, which would have delivered a much-needed new wave of contracts for mobile vendors. But the reality, as 2022 dawns, is looking far closer to what many…