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 comp...
Apr 23, 2025•1 hr 54 min
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.
Apr 07, 2025•2 hr 5 min
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...
Mar 31, 2025•2 hr 1 min
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.
Mar 24, 2025•2 hr 6 min
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.
Mar 17, 2025•2 hr 4 min
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...
Mar 07, 2025•1 hr 10 min
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 ...
Feb 28, 2025•2 hr 6 min
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 abou...
Feb 17, 2025•2 hr 6 min
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.
Feb 10, 2025•2 hr 4 min
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 ...
Feb 03, 2025•1 hr 49 min
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.
Jan 27, 2025•1 hr 50 min
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, befor...
Jan 20, 2025•2 hr 10 min
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.
Jan 13, 2025•1 hr 45 min
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.
Dec 23, 2024•1 hr 44 min
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.
Dec 16, 2024•1 hr 49 min
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.
Dec 09, 2024•1 hr 53 min
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...
Dec 05, 2024•1 hr 51 min
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.
Dec 02, 2024•2 hr 4 min
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.
Nov 25, 2024•1 hr 34 min
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.
Nov 18, 2024•1 hr 53 min
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.
Nov 11, 2024•1 hr 53 min
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.
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 59 min
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.
Oct 21, 2024•1 hr 50 min
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 t...
Oct 11, 2024•56 min
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.
Oct 08, 2024•24 min
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.
Oct 07, 2024•2 hr 2 min
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 inc...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 43 min
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.
Sep 23, 2024•1 hr 54 min
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.
Sep 16, 2024•1 hr 55 min
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.
Sep 09, 2024•1 hr 42 min
