Major trade shows are useful barometers of technology trends or industry movements and MWC 2023 was more valuable than usual as the biggest event of its kind since the pandemic. The omens were mixed for Open RAN, which was supposed to have been boosted by the geographical fragmentation of the industry where in many cases choice of macro RAN supplier has been cut to just three at most as Huawei and ZTE have been effectively excluded from North America and much of Europe. Yet many operators remain lukewarm, despite obvious concerns over reduction of choice and constriction of the supply chain. In almost any industry there is a happy medium between too much fragmentation with its toll on efficiency, scale…