Telecoms.com Podcast

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.

Just Iain and Scott this time after their guest-athon last week. They start by reflecting on a great lunch the two of them had with Nokia and UK AI data centre startup Nscale. The latter is deemed worthy of an entire segment as it sits in one of the most hyped and fast-growing segments of the market. They eventually move on to the contrasting Open RAN market, which is going through a rocky time, before concluding with a look at one of the reasons for that – slowing mobile data growth.

The lads are feeling the pace after a busy few days but find the energy for the second pod of the week, this time featuring special guest Jim Fagan, CEO of EXA Infrastructure. They start by learning more about Jim's company, during which they learn a lot about fibre, datacentres and much more. That eventually leads to a discussion about subsea cables and why people keep sabotaging them, before they conclude by reviewing the Salt Typhoon and Vodaphone/Three news.

This unprecedented episode of the pod not only took place in the middle of the week, but also featured a dialled-in special guest in addition to Ray from Cohere in the studio. They start by finding out what Cohere does (spoiler alert: it has invented some cleverness that makes better use of radio waves), which gets into the weeds regarding radio technology in general. Cohere recently won a Glotel award in partnership with Vodafone Spain, so they eventually patch in Paco from that company to join the fun, before concluding with some broader musing about the future direction of the industry.

One of the pod's most regular guests – William Webb – returns because he's written yet another book. They start by exploring the core theme of his book, which is that 6G is currently headed in the wrong direction and his proposal for a course correction. They eventually move on another of William's favourite topics – the slowdown in global mobile data growth, before concluding with a look at Nokia replacing Huawei at Deutsche Telekom.

Just Iain and Scott this week as they record ahead of the Glotel Awards evening. Pausing only to reflect on Iain's hangover they start by discussing claims that T-Mobile US may be on the verge of ditching Nokia as a RAN vendor, which largely revolve around the pros and cons of using fans to keep things cool. They eventually move on to a story Iain wrote examining US vendor Mavenir's struggles with 5G, before moving on to Scott's pet topic of how geopolitics impacts the telecoms sector.

The lads were delighted to welcome Harry Rippon of UK communications regulator Ofcom to the pod this week. They start by exploring the increasing number of roles Ofcom has in the UK comms market, touching on pricing and spectrum, before an inevitable Scott rant about censorship. That only leaves time for one more segment, in which Iain reflects on his attendance of the Fyuz event, as which Open RAN's state or progress was a major theme.

The pod is back, having skipped a week to allow Scott to galavant around Istanbul, and is delighted to welcome back special guest Neil McRae of Juniper Networks. After hearing all about Scott's trip they get into the main news of the week – the near approval of the UK operator megamerger of Vodafone and Three. They eventually move on to discuss the latest developments in BT's strategy before reflecting on the recent election of Donald Trump as US President and what that may mean for telecoms.

There's no guest this week, which is just as well as they didn't have enough cameras to record three people anyway. The lads start by examining the many ways America is trying to starve China of access to semiconductors. That inevitably involves Huawei, which is the main proxy for this initiative, and they eventually move on to discuss Europe's hesitance to do what the US tells it regarding Huawei, before concluding with the latest signals concerning the telecoms recession.

Iain is back as co-host following Scott's return from Paris and it's just the two of them for their reunion. The big telecoms news of the week concerned quarterly announcements from big kit vendors Ericsson and Nokia, so they spend much of the pod analysing those, along with the usual tangents. They eventually get around to one more topic, a discussion of calls to ban smartphones in schools.

This episode of the pod was recorded on the show floor of the Network X telecoms trade event in Paris. Iain didn't make the trip so risked losing his co-host position to his colleague at Light Reading, Tereza Krasova, who joined Scott along with returning guest Gabriel Brown of Heavy Reading. The main topic of conversation was a review of the opening keynotes from the event, which focused on the opportunities offered by network APIs. After a few tangents they eventually conclude with a look at the state of progress of 6G.

This special edition of the podcast was recorded in partnership with Cerillion and features a conversation between Louis Hall, Founder and CEO of Cerillion, and Scott Bicheno, Editor of Telecoms.com.

The lads were delighted to welcome special guest James Crawshaw, Analyst at Omdia, this week. James is a telecoms software expert, so they started by analysing the recent creation of a new venture designed to open up networks to developers. They eventually move on to examine what concessions Vodafone and Three need to make to get their mega-merger approved, before concluding with a look at generative AI from a telecoms perspective, which inevitably degenerated into dystopian catastrophising.

It was just the two of them this week, which presented the opportunity to be even more self-indulgent than usual. After a few industry shout-outs, the main recipient of that extra podding latitude was AI, which has been in the news even more than usual, as the utopians and dystopians battle it out for the future direction of this era-defining tech. They eventually move on to a spat between Deutsche Telekom and Meta related to the fair contribution debate, before concluding with a look at the increasing role of the US state in the fortunes of chip maker Intel.

The guys were delighted to welcome special guest Stephane Remy of Cambridge Consultants to the pod this week. They start by finding out about Stephane's day job, which involves all kinds of telecoms and tech cleverness. That leads to a broader discussion about the current state of the telecoms industry, before they conclude by analysing some recent AI news.

The pod was delighted to welcome back GOAT guest Mary Clark this week. Mary is now the President and COO of caller ID startup Numeracle, so they start by hearing all about her new gig. They move on to discuss the latest attempt to catalyse the network API market, featuring Ericsson and a bunch of operators, before concluding with a look at what concessions Vodafone and Three could offer to get their proposed merger approved.

After a five week absence, the pod returns from its second summer break. They were delighted to welcome special guest Mark Giles, Lead Analyst at Ookla. Iain and Scott had just come from an event hosted by BT/EE so they combine the review and analysis of that news with a discussion of what Mark does at Ookla. That left time to reflect on a piece of ‘fan mail' Iain received and the story that seems likely to have provoked it.

The pod was delighted to welcome special guest Lee Myall, CEO of UK business comms specialist Neos networks, to this last episode before its main summer break. They start by asking Lee to introduce his company, which leads to a general discussion of the market dynamics it operates within and the UK fibre market in general. This leads naturally discussion of a new group created to lobby for a better deal for UK altnets before they conclude by looking as the tricky spot US chip giant Intel finds itself in.

The pod is delighted to welcome back one of its most returning guests – telecoms consultant William Webb. William is also a prolific author and they start by discussing his latest book, The End of Telecoms History, which asserts that the industry has reached an inflection point and needs to pivot to new business models. A key to that assertion is the slowing of mobile data traffic growth and they go on to critique forecasts that claim the contrary, before concluding with a look at Microsoft's attempts to mitigate its responsibility for the recent global IT outage.

The pod was delighted to welcome back special guest Ed Barton, Director at Caretta Research. Ed's field of expertise is in the digital media and entertainment markets, so they start by exploring some of the stuff that has caught his attention recently. They eventually move on to reflect on recent quarterly earnings announcement s from Ericsson and Nokia, before concluding with a critique of America's belligerent trade policy towards China.

The pod returns after for Scott to go galivanting around France. They start by recapping that trip, along with some of the political developments that took place since the last pod, before discussing the nature and implications of Germany's apparent ban on Huawei kit. Since he has been doing most of the work, they move on to explore a couple of stories Iain wrote around Open RAN, before concluding with a look at how little you have to pay for a new phone these days.

The lads made the annual pilgrimage to Copenhagen for the DTW event and thought it appropriate to record a pod with their Danish mate – analyst John Strand. Pausing only to review the beers John kindly brought along, they start by reviewing the event and specifically the opening keynotes. They move on to discuss industry initiatives in general before concluding with a chat about Strand Consult's recent report analysing the effect of recent European elections on the telecoms industry.

The guys were delighted to welcome special guest Sylwia Kechiche of Opensignal this week. They started with an overview of what Opensignal does, which led to plenty of telecoms tangents, especially concerning mobile user experience. Iain has written a fair bit about the telco cloud recently, so they eventually move on to that topic, before concluding with a look at Apple's recent AI announcement.

Everyone is back in the studio this week as the lads once more put a dent in their Beavertown bounty. They start by reviewing a couple of news items concerning artificial intelligence, which leads to the inevitable dystopian hand-wringing as well as a questioning of all the hype. They biggest beneficiary of AI so far has been chip company Nvidia, so they move on to discuss that company, before concluding by asking whether there's any need for more 5G spectrum.

A bit of a hybrid effort this week as the lads record over Zoom, but still come into the studio anyway. They start by discussing a piece Iain wrote, highlighting the increasing vulnerability faced by the world as everything moves into the public cloud. This leads to more Iain stuff, this time covering Open RAN for a change, before Scott finally gets a look-in to go over stories of his covering the UK shared rural network and possible 5G vendor swap in Portugal.

This week's pod was recorded remotely because Scott was larging it in the Canary Islands. After reflecting on Scott's weekend on the lash, they start by reviewing data showing the telecoms recession is set to get worse before it gets better. They move on to assess China's ability to manufacture cutting-edge chips before concluding by discussing a popular story of Iain's regarding German policy towards Huawei.

The guys were delighted to welcome special guest Darren Pearce, CEO of telco circular economy specialist TXO. Accordingly they started by exploring the various opportunities for used kit and generally getting schooled on the nuances of that industry. They then move on to Scott's coverage of the London Mayor gaslighting his public, before concluding by discussing Iain's story about Telefónica Germany moving to a cloud core.

It was ‘just the two of us' after a guest had to bail at the last minute. The lads both covered reports that the US is revoking many licenses granted to its companies to do business with Huawei, so the main segment focuses on that and the broader US/China tech cold war. Iain was getting Open RAN withdrawal so they then decided to give him a fix, before concluding with a look at a hilarious misstep taken by Apple with its new advert.

The lads were delighted to welcome long-time industry friend Howard Jones of Vorboss onto this week's pod. That familiarity resulted in an exceptionally long period of rambling before they eventually got to the point. They started with an introduction to Howard's company, which then led to lengthy tangents about the whole UK telecoms sector, and was interspersed with thoughts on the current state of PR.

The pod is delighted to welcome special guest Igor Leprince, CEO of Boldyn Networks, to this week's episode. After lamenting the Scott's roaming experience in Venice, they start with an introduction to Boldyn and where it fits into the broader telecoms mix. That leads natural to an exploration of the neutral host market in general before they conclude with an analysis of America's decision to reintroduce net neutrality rules.

The pod is delighted to welcome back special guest Neil McRae, Chief Network Strategist at Juniper Networks. The main theme of the chat was derived from recent quarterly earnings announcements by Ericsson and Nokia, which were very similar as they're both suffering through what could be described as a telecoms recession. There also were plenty of networking tangents, including some DIY stories from Neil.

Iain and Scott are forced to do this pod over Zoom due to producer Pierre selfishly taking an Easter holiday. The main theme of their conversation is Huawei's recently announced 2023 financials, which seem a lot more healthy than any of their Western equivalents. That leads naturally to an examination of how effective US sanctions against Huawei and China have been, before they conclude with a broader look at the geopolitical environment that is behind all these shenanigans.

The pod is delighted to welcome special guest Alex Lawrence, Editor of 6G World, for this week's episode. Unsurprisingly, the spend the first half of the recording discussing 6G, including what it might be and whether or not we should even bother with it. Since 6G's success may be determined a more helpful regulatory environment, they move on to the topic of telecoms regulation, before concluding with a review of Ericsson's recent news.