It seemed that, as in 4G, the ‘first to 5G’ crown would be contested by the leading MNOs of Japan, South Korea and the US. But another feature of the 4G dawn was that several Middle Eastern operators came up behind the giants, and the same has happened in 5G. Ooredoo of Qatar and Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates both claimed, in the same week, to have launched the world’s first commercial 5G networks. As with all these early 5G proclamations, there are significant caveats. We have already seen 5G networks supporting limited public services for special events like South Korea’s Winter Olympics, and commercial trials covering small parts of cities in several countries. Even when the first larger…