I doubt most of my Twitter followers would believe me if I said the dominant part of my day job over the past three months has been learning about topics described in this. If you don't understand these topics, you really can't understand 5G wireless implications at much depth.
In 5G wireless systems an antenna remains at base stations, but non-real time functions (i.e., Centralised Unit processes) can be virtualised in a hyperscale cloud facility while the real-time functions (i.e., Distributed Unit) are shifted to a rack of servers at "the edge."
Software running on "bare metal" can allocate capapacity dynamically, automate provisioning and speed service deployment. Telcos can potentially experience up to a 50% capex savings (efficient capacity utilisation) and a 35% opex savings (due to automation) in the long term. 
Enough people liked this thread about how software, virtualization, hyperscale cloud and edge computing are changing the wireless business that I'm tempted to write about these network parts of 5G that people don't write about in an informative post like: arstechnica.com/information-te…
To dig deeper into 5G networks you need to know:
Virtualization: sdxcentral.com/5g/definitions…
RAN, C-RAN and vRAN sdxcentral.com/5g/definitions… and sdxcentral.com/5g/definitions…
Software Defined Networking (SDN): sdxcentral.com/networking/sdn…
Network Functions Virtualization sdxcentral.com/networking/sdn…
Virtualization: sdxcentral.com/5g/definitions…
RAN, C-RAN and vRAN sdxcentral.com/5g/definitions… and sdxcentral.com/5g/definitions…
Software Defined Networking (SDN): sdxcentral.com/networking/sdn…
Network Functions Virtualization sdxcentral.com/networking/sdn…
It gets "cloudier" since VNFs sdxcentral.com/networking/nfv… are migrating to CNFs. github.com/cncf/cnf-testb… More fun is "serverless," with a goal of running services "almost as fast as bare metal." Aside: I am told that in the UK "bare metal" is called "bare tin." But you expected that!
