The 3GPP began work in earnest on 5G air interfaces, while FCC chairman Tom Wheeler put more flesh on the bones of his determination that the US’s 5G program should be world-leading. All this can give the dangerous impression that 5G is imminent, whereas history tells us that there will be a few pre-standard showcases, usually around major sporting events, and a few more early adopters around 2020 – but the bulk of operators will not be deploying at scale until 2022 or later. This will not, in many cases, be because they do not yet need the additional capacity and flexibility 5G promises, but because they will be achieving a large measure of those improvements through continual enhancement of…