India, Dec. 30 -- It was the year of the pandemic, but it was also the year 5G landed, Huawei lost its US chip supply and industry began turning to open RAN.

Broadband and mobile networks became an economic lifeline as COVID-19 sent the workforce home.

The region's telcos suddenly found themselves valued. Besides meeting the challenge of carrying vastly more traffic in new and unexpected configurations, they found other ways to contribute.

Chinese telcos erected 5G basestations to support temporary hospitals and offered free videoconferencing. HKBN struck barter deals, Hutchison Telecom subsidized school Zoom accounts, Australia's NBN loosened its data caps and Telstra and Optus offered free mobile data.

SK Telecom provided police wit...