As the 5G standardization process moves on, the question is clear – is 3GPP really fit for purpose? The vision for 5G – and its only real commercial justification – is that it will not just be a fifth generation radio, but a complete architecture. Yet most of 3GPP’s work remains focused on the radio, and it has been slow to include organizations addressing standards in other parts of the network. Yet 5G will need open standards at each layer of the network, and between physical and virtual, wireless and wireline technologies. For many operators, 5G will go hand-in-hand with virtualization of the network, and the introduction of SDN controllers to achieve full resource flexibility, plus orchestrators to tie all…