The telecoms network is becoming increasingly open. That means the big players, who once would have relied on patents and standards bodies to ensure they had power in new platforms, are now seeking that influence by initiating and controlling open source initiatives. The year has begun with a long list of open source projects engaging in public relations activity to drum up new members and try to establish themselves as the dominant initiative in a particular area of strategic interest for 5G. AT&T has been particularly adept at pushing open source processes into the heavily defended fortresses of the mobile network vendors. It has contributed the foundations for three significant open platforms and is now busily building support, even among…