Any new and disruptive technology will have teething problems, especially one in which many operators and vendors are trying to assert their influence, and one that carries the weight of political expectations also. Open RAN is such a platform, and continues to attract its share of scepticism – some commercially motivated, some very valid – while also building up its support base. One complication is the presence of Chinese intellectual property and member participation in the O-RAN framework, the most prominent set of specifications underpinning the push towards an open disaggregated RAN. This works against the US-inspired narrative that Open RAN will be a way to exclude Chinese technology (and alleged spyware risks) from 5G networks and build local ecosystems.…