Very few operators have yet deployed 5G Standalone (SA) commercially. There are some notable at-scale exceptions such as T-Mobile USA, and some more limited implementations such as Telstra’s in Australia. But despite the challenges of deploying the 5G core, preferably in a cloud-native manner (but when available platforms are immature), there should be a trickle of SA announcements this year, as operators seek to improve their 5G return on investment. This will be helped because the 5G core and SA can support advanced enterprise and consumer services enabled by slicing, while SA boosts user experience and spectral efficiency. Claiming the European first is Vodafone Germany, whose CEO, Hannes Ametsreiter, said last week: “We are the first network operator to put…