Explore every episode of the podcast Telecoms.com Podcast

The lads are delighted to welcome back special guest telecom consultant William Webb. Also a prolific author, William has published two books since his last appearance, so they get straight into the first topic of ISAC (integrated sensing and communications) and whether it will be the defining new feature of 6G. His other book focuses on direct-to-device satellite services, especially the economics of consumer provision. This coincides with some recent news concerning Starlink and its owner Elon Musk, so they go off on those tangents before concluding with a look two contrasting recent developments in the UK telecoms M&A scene.

Just Iain and Scott this week, so the lads take the opportunity for a deeper dive into some broader telecoms topics. They start by exploring the current state of play of 6G, now just a few years away from its expected launch. They ask whether another ‘G’ is even needed and, if so, what purpose it will serve, noting there seems to be little industry excitement around the concept. They eventually move on to discuss the prospects for Swedish radio kit vendor Ericsson, as its new CEO takes the helm, before concluding by assessing the opportunities and threats posed by the rapid proliferation of AI agents.

The lads are delighted to welcome special guest Mahesh Krishnaswamy, CEO of wireless innovator Taara, this week. After an opening tangent comparing travel anecdotes they get into what Taara does, which is using infra-red light to transmit high capacity telecoms signals that Scott reckons should be called ‘wireless fibre’. Taara originated in Google’s ‘moonshot’ division so they start there, before moving to the present-day applications of its tech. They eventually move on to discuss the emergence of the voice user interface as the likely eventual replacement to today’s touch UI, before concluding with a sceptical look at the growing presence of AI agents.

The lads are delighted to welcome back former Telecoms.com deputy editor Jamie Davies, in his first appearance on the pod for six years. As you would expect of people so familiar with each other, the conversation is exceptionally open and unstructured. Among the major themes are Vodafone, which was going through its bid to merge with Three when Jamie worked there. They eventually move on to look at the vendor prospects for 6G before reflecting on the latest panic about losing control of AI.

In their second recording in two days, the lads are delighted to welcome back special guest Danielle Rios, CEO of Totogi. It is also the second day in a row of kicking-off with some bourbon, with Danielle significantly raising the bar with some extra special treats. They start by exploring how Totogi is going about introducing the latest AI developments into much of the telecoms stack. This inevitably leads to a broader AI discussion in the light of recent alarm bells raised by whistleblowers, before they have a quick chat about the latest iPhone and conclude with an Iain scoop about Nokia’s R&D division Bell Labs.

The lads celebrate a return to the studio by recording a pod two days in a row, so the lucky audience gets a bonus one this week. They’re delighted to welcome back special guest Ray Dolan, CEO of Cohere Technologies and they start with an update on the clever radio technologies Cohere is involved in. One of those involves the introduction of ISAC (integrated sensing and communication) so they move on to discuss the opportunities that offers, before concluding with an analysis of Huawei’s first new smartphone chip in years, including its geopolitical implications.

A studio pod is thwarted once more, this time due to train trouble, so the IRL reunion will have to wait another week. The lads start by talking about 5G+ - the marketing name for 5G Standalone – because Vodafone followed in EE’s footsteps by launching a dedicated slice of the network for super-duper performance. To labour the point they even held an event at a race track, which Iain attended just a few days after going to Tottenham Hotspur stadium with HPE to learn how great the wifi is there, so they go on to chat about that before concluding by noting the death of the telecoms ‘fair share’ debate.

The lads have just about finished their summer breaks but this is still a remote one because Scott is in the Canaries. They start by assessing the plausibility of claims made by super-entrepreneur Elon Musk that his satellite-based mobile communications tech can compete with the incumbent US mobile network operators. Another novel mobile initiative is then put under the microscope in the form of EE’s new ‘Fast Lane’ service, before they conclude by examining the growing moral panic around social media, which is causing it to be blamed for almost anything.

This special episode of the pod was recorded remotely with tech and science fiction author Cory Doctorow. Cory has recently published a book titled: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI, so they start by exploring what a reverse centaur is in this context. Spoiler alert – it’s about the relationship between humans and machines. That takes them down a number of timely rabbit holes regarding what’s in store for us as AI becomes ever more powerful and ubiquitous. They eventually move on to discuss Cory’s previous book, called Enshittification, before concluding with a quick look at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. 

The lads are back after a break for Iain’s summer holiday in Slovakia. After some opening tangents on the country, they get into a review of recent news coming from Nokia regarding AI RAN. The broader topic concerns what role AI should have in the radio access network and thanks to its relationship with Nvidia, Nokia reckons it will benefit from the introduction of GPUs. They eventually move on to discuss several stories that document the looming AI dystopia, as agents escape containment and autonomous devices are increasingly inspired by the Terminator films, before concluding with a look at a GSMA report on the cost of replacing Huawei kit.

The lads are delighted to welcome back special guest Neil McRae, in his first appearance as CTIO of CityFibre. Pausing only for a semi-regular check in on the current state of AI, they get straight into hearing about Neil’s new gig and his plans for the technological side of UK fibre wholesaler CityFibre. This leads naturally to a look at the wider broadband market and the challenges it faces, as well as a review of potential consolidation in the UK market, before they conclude by analysing BT’s latest strategic move.

The lads are delighted to welcome back special guest Paul Nolan of PR agency CC Group Hoffman. Pausing only to reflect on the delights of summertime Copenhagen, they start by exploring research Paul’s company has done into GEO – generative engine optimisation. With content increasingly discovered through AI searches, they discuss what it takes to make the most of this new knowledge paradigm. They eventually move on to discuss Scott’s visit to the recent DTW trade show before concluding with Iain’s critique of how the IoT opportunity has been treated.

The pod is back after a break for Scott’s summer holiday and the lads are delighted to welcome back special guest Geoff Hollingworth of Rakuten Symphony. They start with an introduction to Rakuten, which is a major player in Japan across a number of consumer technology sectors, which leads to discussion of a recent Rakuten Symphony report critiquing the traditional telco business model and suggesting improvements to it. They eventually move on to talk about Ericsson, which Iain recently visited in Sweden and has announced a new CEO, before concluding with an examination of a UK move to ban social media for under-16s.

This is your last pod for a few weeks as Scott is selfishly going on holiday, sorry. There’s no guest this week, which gives the lads the opportunity to dive a bit deeper into the news. They start by assessing the significance of a Huawei announcement that it has invented a new way of making semiconductors, which could have the broader significance of making China more resilient in its tech cold war with the US. They eventually move on to discuss falling headcount at VodafoneThree before concluding with a look at the EU’s protectionist dilemmas.

The lads are delighted to welcome special guest Dana Tobak, CEO of UK altnet Hyperoptic. Dana is one of the founders of Hyperoptic, so they start by discussing the thinking behind that and how Hyperoptic differentiates itself in a crowded UK fibre broadband market. That inevitably leads to an exploration of the broader competitive environment and economics of that business, before they conclude with a look at recent news from BT.

The lads are delighted to welcome telecoms consultant (and Iain’s mate) Amit Nagpal of Aetha Consulting to the pod this week. Pausing only to mix some psychedelic G&Ts, they eventually get into talking about Amit’s main area of professional interest – telecoms policy. That leads to talk of how 5G is going in various parts of the world, including the various spectrum it uses and how regulators have helped or hindered its progress. They conclude with a look at some recent direct-to-device news and the role of UK comms regulator Ofcom in policing online speech.

The lads are delighted to welcome back returning special guest – analyst John Strand. The implications of policy and regulation on the global telecoms industry are a major focus of his work, so they start by reflecting on the importance of secure 5G networks in that respect. That inevitably leads to lots of spicy chat about geopolitics and especially the impact of American activity, while hopefully not straying too far from the name of the pod, before they conclude by analysing a recent move by BT to revitalise its brand.

No guest this week, so you get the usual more meandering, self-indulgent fare from the lads. They set the scene by doing a taste test of Irish whiskies kindly donated by recent guests, before they eventually get around covering a bit of telecoms news. They start by discussing Nokia’s sale of its fixed wireless access business and that broader sector, before moving on to analyse Samsung’s performance in the networking sector and concluding with some handwringing over the societal impact of advances in artificial intelligence.

The lads are delighted to welcome their second guest from Cork in Ireland in a row – Frank Long from Cambridge Consultants. At MWC this year, Cambridge Consultants demonstrated an advanced robot, so after learning about the company more broadly, they get into exploring the confluence between robotics, AI and telecoms, including physical AI and 6G, with the inevitable dystopian detours. They eventually get on to discuss Nokia’s latest quarterly numbers and what they suggest about the direction of the company.

The lads hobble back into the studio this week to chat to special guest Eoin Coughlan of IBM. Helped along by the medicinal effects of an excellent Irish beverage, they start by exploring what IBM’s interests are in the telecoms industry and in AI. IBM is involved in the ‘plumbing’ for both, as it is many other industries, so they have a deep dive into the practical implementations of AI. They eventually move on to other news, including Ericsson’s latest quarterly earnings announcement and the acquisition of satellite company Globalstar by Amazon.

A rare Zoom pod this week as overwhelming audience demand persuades Scott to overcome his aversion to the format. They start by exploring the news of UK mobile operator announcing the winners of its latest RAN upgrade work. The most fun part of this news was attempts to influence the narrative around it and subsequent minor PR drama. They eventually move on to examine Huawei’s 2025 revenues before concluding by pondering what effect AI is having on our ability to think.

The lads manage to squeeze in a second recording in a week and this time it’s a rare pod when there’s no guest. As a consequence, Iain and Scott are able to do a deeper dive into recent news and they select announcement made by Nvidia to discuss first. Specifically the US tech giant has refined its pitch to the telecoms industry under the concept of the ‘AI grid’, so they explore that and ponder its appeal to the telecoms industry. They eventually move on to look at some of the business challenges faced by Nokia before concluding by analysing the implications of recent legal rulings against social media platforms.

The lads are delighted to welcome special guest Jeremy Chelot, CEO of UK altnet Netomnia, to this early pod. Jeremy is very much in the news these days thanks to his company’s acquisition by Nexfibre (not VMO2) to create a major challenger to Openreach in the UK fibre market. They start by exploring Netomnia’s business and the rationale behind the acquisition, before moving on to examine the dynamics of the UK altnet market and concluding with a discussion of some of the technologies it relies on.

Back in the studio, the lads are delighted to be joined by returning special guest, Opensignal analyst Sylwia Kechiche. This being the first pod after MWC, they review the main themes taken from the show. They start by reflecting on the prominence of satellite connectivity as talking point at the show, reflecting on confusing market messaging on the matter. The various manifestations of AI are then discussed, before they conclude by reviewing the early hyping of 6G and asking whether it’s justified.

The guys wasted no time in bringing you their special podcast recorded from the show floor in Barcelona. Overwhelming demand means they’re delighted welcome no less than four guests, but are slightly more organised about it than last year. First they’re joined by Ray Dolan from Cohere and Mike Dano from Ookla. Both are familiar faces but there was still plenty to catch up on, including talk of satellites and network sensing. Eventually they give way to Queen of Props, Totogi’s Danielle Rios, and industry expert Dan Warren. Among the topics the four then discuss are network software and, of course, AI.

As has become tradition, the guys are delighted to welcome back special guest Analyst Dean Bubley, to look ahead to the main themes of this year’s big telecoms trade show. They start with the obvious – AI – but strive to inject focus and substance into this ubiquitous and often hyperbolic topic by discussing agents, automation, and APIs. They then move on to the matter of sovereignty and how viable it is for countries to become more self-sufficient in a time of ultra globalisation. The final big theme is satellite telecoms, with direct-to-device likely to be a hot topic at the show. They conclude by examining recent conjecture on the effect AI will have on the world and its workers.

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.