Telecoms.com Podcast

For the second day in a row the lads were delighted to welcome a special guest, this time Fran Heeran, head of telecoms at Red Hat. For once they waste little time before moving on to the main topic of Red Hat and getting to the bottom of what it does. Spoiler alert: it's open-source software for enterprise, which includes telecoms, so they explore topics such as virtualization, containers, and assorted other software arcana. They eventually move on to look ahead at some of the likely innovations and opportunities offered by 6G before concluding by exploring some of the practical telecom applications of AI.

Openreach, PSTN and AI by Telecoms.com

Just Iain and Scott this week as their guest had one of those ubiquitous UK winter bugs. After acknowledging some recent social engagements, they get into the matter of data sovereignty, which has become even more important since supposedly allied countries started threatening each other. The main question concerns how viable it is for Europe to be less reliant on world superpowers. That naturally leads to more general geopolitical chat before they conclude by discussing the business and societal implications of jobs being automated away by AI.

The lads were delighted to welcome special guest Ibrahim Eldeftar, who heads up Cognitive Software and Services at Ericsson. What does that mean, we hear you ask. Well listen in and all will be revealed. They start by explaining what rApps are and why we should care about them. The broader context for them is network automation, something that is being accelerated by recent developments in AI, so they explore that too, as well as Ericsson's programmable networks strategy. They eventually move on to talk about AI in a broader context before concluding with a look at Nokia's latest quarterly numbers.

The lads celebrate a premature end to dry January with a nip of Irish Whisky, courtesy of special guest Luke Kehoe of Ookla. Luke has been into all things telecoms since childhood, which leads to a broad and organic chat, encompassing smartphones, components, AI, and wearable technology. They eventually move on to discussing some of the big news from last week, concerning new EU legislation that affects telecoms and the drama involving US President Trump, before concluding with a look at Ericsson's latest quarterly results.

The guys were delighted to welcome special guest, fellow hack Kieran Smith of the Financial Times, to another sober episode of the pod. Among Kieran's areas of focus at the FT is the UK altnet sector, so, after reflecting on Iain's underground field trip, they start with a deep dive into a market that looks set for significant consolidation and disruption this year. They eventually move on to reflect on the latest round of redundancies and what that says about the state of the industry, before concluding with a look at the recent spat between the UK and AI platform Grok.

The lads are back in the studio after an extended Christmas break and are managing to stay off the beers for a bit. After reflecting on the festive period and subsequent sobriety they start by reflecting on the CES tech trade show, which was dominated by talk of AI-powered robots. This prompts the inevitable agonising over the infusion of AI into everything and what that means for increasingly obsolete humans. They eventually move on to discuss one of Iain's stories, which questions the real world utility of 5G standalone, before concluding by reflecting on the broader implications of recent US aggression towards Venezuela.

The final pod of the year features traditional guest host Elena Davidson of Liberty Communications. Elena is kind enough to not only compile a quiz of the year's telecoms.com news but bring along festive props designed to strip the lads of what little dignity they have. Consequently there's no underlying theme to this most rambling of pods, but they do manage to get into a wide variety of tangents, some of which are even relevant to the telecoms industry. That's all you get from us for a month, so thanks a lot for listening, have a great Christmas, and we look forward to returning in the new year.

The guys are delighted to welcome special guest Sam Tabbara, CEO of Paradise Mobile, this week. Paradise is a mobile network operator from Bermuda and Sam was over here in part to attend the Glotel Awards ceremony, so they start by reflecting on that event, before moving on to learn about Paradise. That leads to many fruitful tangents about the state of innovation in the telecoms industry, mobile technology and Bermuda itself. They eventually move on to discuss Intel's decision not to flog its network and edge group, before concluding with a look at some recent telecoms-related drama in India.

6GHz spectrum, AI-RAN and USA by Telecoms.com

The lads were delighted to welcome back special guest Gabriel Brown of analyst firm Omdia. Pausing only to reflect on some mixed sporting news, they get straight into the big new of the week, which emanated from Nokia's capital markets day. It was the opportunity for Nokia's newish CEO to reveal his cunning plan for the company. Given events that preceded, that inevitably leads to discussion of Nvidia's increasing influence over Nokia and the telecoms world in general, before they conclude by reflecting on a recent event held by BT International.

The lads are delighted to welcome special guest Zoe Osy de Zegwaart of PR agency CC Group/Hoffman this week. The three of them recently hung out in Dublin, so they start by reflecting on that before getting into an exclusive preview of a telecoms industry survey conducted by Zoe and her colleagues. Spoiler alert: it turns out operators can be a bit risk-averse and the returns from AI investments in telecoms can be a bit hit-and-miss. After an especially meandering and tangential discussion of the findings, they eventually conclude by analysing signs of growing suspicion towards Chinese companies in Europe.

Just the two lads back in the studio this week, back from their adventures in Dublin. They start by reviewing the reason for being in Dublin, the FYUZ industry gathering, and reflect on encounters and conversations they had there. The elephant in the room was the recent major investment in Nokia by Nvidia and they explore the implications of that, and the broader interest of mega US tech companies, to the telecoms sector. They eventually move on to discuss the latest developments in Germany regarding its policy on Huawei, before concluding by reviewing BT's latest earnings announcement.

For this special edition of the podcast we partner with Cohere Technologies to explore a number of areas of wireless innovation. The main segment is recorded at Cohere's stand at the FYUZ industry gathering in Dublin, featuring Cohere's CEO Ray Dolan, Brad Stimpson of Bell Canada and Paco Pignatelli of Vodafone. They discuss radio innovation, the FYUZ event, recent Cohere announcements, the road to 6G and much more, with some valuable insights from the operators. This pod then moves to a purely audio segment recorded the previous day from the Stag's Head pub in Dublin, featuring Ray and US defense industry insider Tom Rondeau, and exploring the emerging field of integrated sensing and communication..

The guys are delighted to welcome back special guest Danielle Rios of Totogi this week. Pausing only to acknowledge Danielle's continued contribution to the pod's refreshment resources, they get straight into Totogi's recent initiative to make even the creation of telecoms software ‘AI-native'. Among the topics explored are the pros and cons of automating such things, as well as inevitable concerns about overly powerful and ubiquitous AI, before they eventually move on to give the public clod the same treatment and conclude with a look at Nokia's recent quarterly earnings report.

This special midweek bonus episode of the pod features a conversation with special guest Marc Hijink. Marc is the author of Focus – The ASML Way, which charts the evolution of the Dutch company to its current position as the sole supplier of EUV lithography tools to the global semiconductor manufacturing industry. They start by discussing the book and the profound significance of ASML to the chip sector, before eventually moving on to explore its consequent position at the centre of the tech cold war between the US and China.

The lads are delighted to welcome back special guest Lee Myall of Neos Networks. Pausing only to reflect on the recent Network X trade show, they get straight into discussing the UK fibre connectivity sector, in which Neos is a provider of backbone infrastructure. The conversation includes an analysis of the impact the booming AI and data centre markets are having on that space. They eventually move on to review Vodafone's recent RAN tender announcements before concluding with a look at Ericsson's latest quarterly earnings report.

The lads were delighted to welcome back special guest, telecoms consultant William Webb. William is a prolific writer and a pod with him wouldn't be the same without a book launch. He has significantly expanded on his book: The End of Telecoms History, so they start by examining the case for, and arguments against, his contention that global network traffic growth is peaking. They eventually move on to explore the utility of AI in managing networks before concluding with some casual speculation about changes at the top of US operator Verizon.

The guys are delighted to welcome special guest Karl Flinders, a journalist at Computer Weekly, this week. Karl is a colleague who also happens to be the person who has done much of the reporting on the protracted scandal surrounding the mistaken victimisation of UK Post Office workers due to faulty software. So, pausing only to reflect on a recent trip to New York courtesy of HPE, they explore the Post Office saga from the initial Computer Weekly reporting 16 years ago to the continued injustices still being committed. They eventually move on to look at Vodafone's recent RAN vendor decisions before concluding by looking at the current status of Chinese vendors in Europe.

The lads were delighted to welcome special guest Simon Dumbleton from World Wide Technology this week. WWT is a system integrator that does a lot of work with telcos. They start by discussing what the current AI boom means for communications service providers and how best they should go about making the most of it, including optimal levels of investment. That eventually leads to reflections on the recent big round of investment pledges to the UK by US big tech, before they conclude by analysing Meta's new smart glasses and what effect, if at all, products like that may have on the telecoms industry.

It's double Nokia this week as our guest is from that company and the lads were also Nokia's guests in Finland recently. Special guest Bjorn Capens is from Belgium and he brought over a selection of beers typical to that country. So they start by going though those before getting into Bjorn's day job at Nokia, which focuses on fixed broadband networks, covering the history of broadband and the latest fixed network technology developments and market trends. They eventually get on to Iain and Scott's visit to Oulu in northern Finland, where Nokia has just opened an impressive new wireless technology campus, before briefly reflecting on Oracle's impressive recent earnings.

One more summer bonus episode that will also be the last for two weeks as, ironically, Iain and Scott are off on their travels. The main focus this week is the $23 billion sale of spectrum by US telco EchoStar to its larger rival AT&T. The move begs all sorts of related questions, which the lads have a proper dig into. They eventually move on to Iain's recent reporting on Huawei and its persistent presence in Europe, before concluding with some of Scott's coverage of the UK's attempts to police the internet, which are increasingly upsetting the US.

Another bonus summer episode of the pod, courtesy of Pierre's travel misfortunes, but with no guest this week. Both Iain and Scott had been writing about AI so they devote the main segment to an extended critique of the technology, business case and general concept. Is AI over-hyped? Is it even useful? Does increasing reliance on it damage our brains? All these questions and more are addressed. They eventually get on to the many geopolitical tensions the AI arms races is causing before concluding by exploring investor concerns at Nokia.

This bonus episode of the pod comes courtesy of Pierre's travel challenges and features returning special guest Gabriel Brown, Analyst at Heavy Reading. After reflecting on the circumstances that enabled this pod, as well as some of the stuff the lads have been up to recently, they get into a recent piece of research published by Brown stating that ‘5G standalone (SA) is set to scale worldwide'. A key question concerns the broader significance of 5G SA, which leads to musings on the nature of technological progress and best how to communicate that to the market. They eventually move on to talk about Intel's struggles as they affect the telecoms industry, before concluding with a look at US President Trump's increasingly forceful interventions in the tech industry.

The lads are back in the studio and delighted to welcome back Ronan Kelly of All Points Fibre Network. APFN is a UK wholesale fibre provider, so they start by finding out more about the company and how it fits into the broader market. Discussion turns to the broader economics of fibre and the UK's very competitive environment before they eventually turn to the perennial topic of ‘fair share' contributions to network costs by US Big Tech and conclude with a Scott rant about the Online Safety Act.

With Pierre returning to his roots, it's a rare remote pod this week. After acknowledging a couple of great recent sessions, conversation turns to reflections on a week of quarterly earnings announcements. They start with Nokia, which felt compelled to warn the world about the negative effects of Trump's tariffs, a topic that yields some fruitful tangents. Eventually the focus turns to Intel and its continued attempts to improve things for itself, before they conclude with a quick look at how AT&T is benefitting from recent political developments.

Ericsson, AI and CityFibre by Telecoms.com

6G, Open RAN and Google Cloud by Telecoms.com

This episode was recorded from the show floor of the Digital Transformation World 2025 event with special guest Analyst John Strand. Pausing only to review the Danish beer selection John provided, they get straight into a review of the show. Many familiar themes were covered once more, with AI providing much of the novelty, so the guys ponder how much progress is being made. They eventually move on to discuss recent news from US vendor Mavenir and what that may tell us about the industry, before reflecting on the US President's involvement in a new MVNO.

The lads were delighted to welcome special guest, Analyst Paolo Pescatore, to the latest pod. Iain and Scott had already downed a couple before recording, so discipline was especially challenging. Luckily all the podders had been at the grand launch of VodafoneThree so they're able to bang on about that for a bit. They eventually turn to the latest news from Apple, with Paolo having attended the supporting event in California earlier in the week, before concluding by pondering the role of emerging technologies in consumer devices.

The guys were delighted to welcome special guest Juliette Scott from Openreach, following their half-term break. Openreach is the UK's biggest wholesaler of telecoms infrastructure, including all the legacy stuff, and Juliette is one of the people responsible for migration from old to new. So they start by talking about that, as well as the broader UK fixed line telecoms environment. They eventually move on to acknowledge the completion of the merger between UK MNOs Vodafone and Three, before concluding with a spot of light AI doom-mongering.

The guys were delighted to welcome special guest Brandon Larson of Mavenir to this last pod before a brief break. It doesn't take long for AI to make an appearance in the conversation, but that's fair enough because it's a big part of Brandon's day job. They focus on what AI means for telcos, but there are inevitable tangents in the direction of assessing the utopian vs dystopian implications of the technology. They eventually move on to discuss BT's latest quarterly announcement before concluding with a quick look at stories concerning OpenAI and Malaysia.

6G, GSMA and geopolitics by Telecoms.com

This special mid-week recording of the pod was scheduled so we could speak to spectrum policy consultant Dave Wright while he was in town. Scott starts by asking Dave why operators and the industry associations who represent them are constantly begging for more spectrum in frequency bands that have limited utility. That conversation goes on to cover the competing needs of the cellular and wifi worlds before they conclude with a look at evolving US trade policy towards China.

The lads are uncharacteristically smart this week ahead of an event Scott chaired immediately after recording. One of the speakers at that event was Analyst Roz Roseboro of Omdia and she was able to join the pod for a bit. They start by reflecting on another recent event they all attended called FutureNet World, which covered a lot of telecoms industry hot topics. They go on to talk about AI, which was the theme of Roz's event, before concluding by questioning the utility of higher frequency spectrum.

The guys celebrate the nicest day of the year by spending it locked in a small room with special guest Phil Mottram from HPE. They start by finding out all about Aruba, which is the bit of the company Phil runs, and soon branch off onto a bunch of other HPE-related topics. Among those is the IT security environment, which eventually leads them to talk about recent developments in the sovereign cloud, before they conclude with a look at some legal hot water Apple has landed itself in.

This second pod of the week was recorded after the lads had been out for a few the previous evening. In the absence of a guest, Iain and Scott indulge themselves by reflecting on a conversation they had about AI after a few beers. They eventually move on to the big story of the week – Nokia's quarterly numbers – and use that as the catalyst for a broader discussion of the Finnish kit vendor. The chat is rounded off by reflections on the Open RAN market and America's rapidly evolving with the rest of the world.

The lads return from the Easter break by welcoming special guest Dag Peak of Alianza. Pausing only to reflect on the passing of the Pope, they start by asking Dag about his company and how it fits into the great telecoms scheme of things. That leads to a broader interrogation of the operator business model and what they can do to improve their fortunes. They eventually move on to discuss the latest news from Ericsson before reflecting on the growing hostility of the US state towards its own companies.

Just the lads this week so they get to be nice and self-indulgent over subject matter. There's no getting past the trade war declared by the US on the rest of the world, which affects all industries, so Iain and Scott spend a good chunk of time exploring the concept of tariffs and macroeconomics in general before pondering how telecoms will be affected. They eventually move on to examine Huawei's full-year 2024 numbers before concluding with a look at the pros and cons of virtual RAN.

Producer Pierre wasn't well this week, so we were forced to speak to special guest Neil McRae of Juniper Networks over Zoom. Broadcasting from his pinball den, Neil offered an update on his company before reflecting on the recent MWC trade show. They covered a lot of hot mobile topics, including private 5G vs wifi, but definitely not 6G. That eventually led to speculation about whether 6G will ever be a big deal, before concluding with a look at a buzzword that has already lost its lustre – Open RAN.

The guys came straight from an early lunch to welcome the pod's first ever lawyer – David Hunt – as their special guest. David specialises in the interface between companies and governments, so the conversation covered a wide range of topics, covering all parts of the globe. The US, Europe, and China inevitably featured strongly as the implications of recent developments on global trade were also explored, before they concluded with an analysis of Nvidia's attempts to get into telecoms.

The lads have one more assessment of the recent Mobile World Congress trade show, this time with the benefits of hindsight and special guest, analyst John Strand. Geopolitics, along with AI, dominated the chat at this year's show, so they discuss as much of that at telecoms purist Iain can tolerate, before moving on to more sector-specific stuff. They conclude by examining the news that some EU officials are being investigated on suspicion of receiving bribes from Chinese vendor Huawei.

An attempt to feature five guests resulted in possibly the most chaotic version of the podcast ever. The first two guests were analyst Paolo Pescatore and Danielle Rios, CEO of Totogi, who brought along a cocktail crew to make sure things go smoothly. They eventually made way for Sylwia Kechiche of Opensignal and Mark Giles from Ookla and we even managed to fit in pod favourite Mary Clark of Numeracle at the end. They tried, and failed, to avoid talking about geopolitics and the AI dystopia, but plenty of telecoms was covered too.

The pod is delighted to welcome back special guest, analyst Dean Bubley, for his now traditional preview of an event he prefers not to attend. They tackle the likely themes of Mobile World Congress 2025 and you don't need to be Nostradamus to know AI will dominate. But what does that mean? The guys take the time to pick it apart and sort the wheat from the chaff. The other main themes covered are 5/6G, network APIs and geopolitics and this is published early to get you in the mood ahead of next week's event.

The guys are delighted to welcome Pablo Tomasi of analyst firm Omdia this week, whose appearance is so well timed as to create the impression of planning. All three of them attended Ericsson's big pre-MWC media and analyst presentation in London, so they start off by reviewing that, specifically Ericsson's bets on the future of the mobile industry and the likelihood of them paying off. That leads to conversation about enterprise telecoms in general, before they conclude with a robust debate about the implications of Nokia's new CEO appointment.

Just the core crew again this week as they brave the foul weather to bring you your weekly fix of telecoms banter. Chinese vendor Huawei snuck out a singly financial data point last week but Ian and Scott still managed to bang on about it, and the inevitable tangents, for an hour or so. They eventually moved on to look at the current state of US chip firm Intel before briefly questioning Google's principles when it comes to AI.

No guest this week as the lads planned in advance to be hungover and Scott wanted to catch up on the Long Drink action. Pausing only to reflect on the pros and cons of falling off the wagon, they get straight into the big story of the week – DeepSeek – and analyse the implications of China suddenly catching up with the US on AI. After the obligatory Terminator references they eventually get on to discuss Nokia's recent quarterly numbers before laughing at Meta's continued attempts to repair its relationship with Donald Trump.

In the last relatively sober pod of the month, the lads are delighted to welcome special guest Jussi from Hamina Wireless. Pausing only to introduce Iain to the Finnish drink lonkero, Jussi introduces his company's focus on the optimisation of wifi. That leads to plenty of tangents around indoor connectivity, private 5G, etc, before they eventually move on to discuss Ericsson's latest quarterly numbers and conclude with a look at America's big Stargate AI infrastructure announcement.

Finally back in the studio, the lads are joined by Paul from CC Group PR and his colleague Rich, who ensures an extra long recording by his constant interruptions. They start by talking about an imminent webinar, hosted by CC and featuring elite telecoms hacks, that aims to set the scene for the Mobile World Congress trade show, leading to plenty of tangents around the show, journalism, and PR in general. They eventually move on to cover a couple telecoms moans about how rubbish the EU is, before concluding with a review of a new book about Huawei.

Iain and Scott are forced to do the first pod of the year over Zoom because their office was broken. Pausing only to reflect on Christmas and the misery glory of sobriety, they start by reflecting on a busy start to the year for the US versus China cold war, with Huawei playing a central part as ever. The lads then settle back immediately into their respective pet topics, with Iain having written comprehensively on Open RAN and Meta giving Scott an excuse to bang on about censorship.

The podcast year culminates in its traditional Christmas quiz, hosted by Elena from Liberty Communications. Pausing only to reflect on a big day out for Iain and Scott the day before and a farcical attempt to use a beer hat just before recording, they eventually get into the quiz. Expect rabid competitiveness, buzzer drama, and unbridled tangents, but you'll have to listen to the end to find out who wins. Have a great Christmas and see you in the (sober for a bit) new year.