Telecoms.com Podcast

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, whic...

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 clo...

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 c...

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 lates...

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...

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 eve...

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...

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 of...

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 Numer...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 nu...

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...

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...

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 w...

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, b...

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 the...

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...

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...

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...

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 RA...

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 refle...

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...