SK Telecom has been a flagwaver for open multivendor platforms for years. It was only the second MNO (after NTT Docomo) to implement a virtualized packet core based on virtual network functions (VNFs) from multiple vendors. With a few other brave operators, like Telefónica it has announced concrete plans to deploy a multivendor, cloud-native 5G core. And it has been working hard to ensure its 5G RANs do not lock it into a single supplier per geography, but allow it to mix and match virtual and physical elements from multiple vendors flexibly. Last November, it successfully trialled a 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) network that paired a Samsung core with base stations from both Nokia and Ericsson. Now it has followed that…