The biggest RAN vendors have got into the habit of starting their Mobile World Congress (MWC) battles a couple of weeks in advance, offering previews of their main launches and messages in the hope of winning some hearts and minds even before the mega-show in Barcelona kicks off. Last week saw Huawei holding its pre-MWC event in London, while on the same day, Ericsson announced a series of enhancements to its 5G-ready portfolio. Of course, 5G will be the dominant theme for these vendors and their rivals, now that the first set of standards has been finalized and the first working network deployed (for the Korean Winter Olympics). Ericsson has been promising simple upgrades from 4G kit, and general 5G…