“I would like the industry to come to some consensus about the terminology,” Microsoft's Cindy Xing said.

"We had to readjust our lives to work from home, learn from home, and all of a sudden we had to adapt very quickly to that,” AT&T's Andre Fuetsch

The notion that "this millimeter-wave thing is going to deliver a phone in your hand wherever you go with multi-gigabit speed, it’s mythical,” T-Mobile's Neville Ray said.

"We’re not prioritizing one over the other. We’re building a platform that allows us to serve each of those segments concurrently, and that’s really important," Dish's Stephen Bye said.

The move closely follows Nokia’s recent deal to migrate its data centers, servers, and various software applications to Google Cloud.

AT&T said its ability to use the same open hardware for core and edge routing demonstrates the power of open source systems.

Nokia warns that network traffic may spike again, especially as COVID-19 infections surge and public health restrictions are being re-instituted in many regions.

Open RAN specified offerings will only compose about 3% of industrywide volumes by 2025, the Swedish vendor's EVP Fredrik Jejdling said.

Huawei also revealed 5GtoB Suite, a body of software designed to assist 5G mobile network operators with operations and maintenance requirements for enterprises.

Verizon’s 5G effort began with a heavy push on mmWave, but the coverage of that network remains narrow and sporadic, sometimes from city block to city block.

The collection of 5G networks in the U.S. "doesn’t deliver an awesome customer experience yet — it’s comparable to 4G,” Ericsson SVP Niklas Heuveldop said.

“One critical factor, COVID, has been present in almost all discussions during the year," CEO Börje Ekholm said.

F5 is positioning these Kubernetes-based services as a layer that network operators will require as they transition to 5G standalone cores.

Pushing the coverage of radio access networks deeper into congested public spaces, offices, venues, and transportation hubs is widely viewed as a crucial component of 5G.

Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen, as he reflexively does during earnings calls, provided analysts and investors with almost equal doses of bravado and humility.

“We provide more geographic coverage right now than AT&T and Verizon combined on 5G. To be more precise, our 5G coverage is double AT&T and 3.5 times Verizon’s," CEO

The overhaul could embolden IBM’s appeal among operators while elevating its many telco-focused services into a more comprehensive offering.

“We are on our way to meet our requirements” imposed by the Federal Communications Commission, Dish's Marc Rouanne said.

“We have aligned with Dish from the beginning to ensure that this is [open RAN] compliant,” Intel's Dan Rodriguez said.

SDxCentral looked at the 15 most valuable companies we cover to determine where these businesses are directing their deep pockets for political gains.

Most of the 5G use cases envisioned by the effective proprietors of 5G are still under development and relegated to labs.

The collective yawn on some matters and head scratching on others doesn’t point to a clear and positive outcome for Nokia.

Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark announced a company-wide restructuring and shift in strategy designed to revitalize the vendor’s 5G radio access network business.

Verizon still needs developers, enterprises, and entrepreneurs to help it realize a more broad vision for 5G.