The closer we get to commercial 5G roll-outs, the more unclear the business case looks, for the majority of mobile operators. To some extent that is natural – it is easy to make bold projections when a new generation of technology is years away, but now the first standards are finalized, and a few operators have firm dates to start commercial activities. But for the rest, they are more likely to agree with BT CEO Gavin Patterson, who said in November that “the business case for 5G still needs to be built … I’ve been speaking to CEOs around the world, and we’ve all been struggling to make the business case work”. There are three aspects to that potential 5G…