One of the recurrent themes of Wireless Watch, and of Rethink’s wider RAN research and forecasting, in 2018, has been the way that 5G will drive a very different kind of network. Profound changes to the way a mobile network is planned and deployed, and the equipment it uses, are not all about 5G. The key trends Rethink tracks in this area, such as densification, virtualization and white box networks are not specific to 5G, and a few operators have started to deploy them in earnest in 4G networks. However, all these trends will start to achieve critical mass because of the new requirements of 5G use cases – for flexibility, energy efficiency, unprecedented capacity and ubiquitous, reliable coverage. To…