Telecoms.com Podcast

The trains permitted a return to the studio this week, which is just as well since there won’t be one next week because of half-term. Telecoms.com Deputy Editor Andrew Wooden joins the usual suspects to reflect help reflect on visits they made to Vodafone and BT. They then take another look at the latest signs of a shift in EU telecoms M&A policy before concluding with a quick chat about recent developments in AI.

John Baker, a specialist in Open RAN from Mavenir, dives into the ongoing debate about Open RAN's effectiveness in transforming the telecom landscape. He shares insights on the challenges operators face, particularly with supply chain security and vendor diversity. The conversation touches on the impact of EU telecom policies and Ofcom’s regulatory reach, raising concerns about their influence on telecom innovations and competition. Additionally, they discuss the contrasts in deployment speed among key industry players, highlighting the critical role of collaboration for success.

The pod is delighted to welcome special guest Rajesh Pankaj, CTO of Interdigital, and they start by asking what exactly his company does. That leads on to a wide-ranging chat about telecoms R&D, patents, standards and, ultimately 6G. They still find time at the end to hear about Scott’s latest piece of self-indulgent writing, in which he tasked himself with a full summary of all the revelations coming from the Twitter files.

We’re delighted to welcome another special guest, Colin Evans from Juniper Networks. In the process of working out exactly what Juniper does, conversation soon turns to a variety of network-related themes, including automation and the mobile edge. Having done a general telecoms deep dive, they conclude with a look at Ericsson’s recant quarterly earnings release and what it might indicate about the broader industry.

The guys finally make it back into the studio and are delighted to be joined by Roslyn Layton of Strand Consult, who is an expert on telecoms public policy. She was in town for an Ofcom consultation on net neutrality, so they start with a deep dive into that topic, including its many definitions and interpretations. An overlapping trending topic is the issue of whether the biggest video content producers should pay a ‘fair contribution’ to the cost of running networks, so they conclude with a discussion of that.

New year, same old train strikes so the first pod of 2023 is another Zoom one, unfortunately. Telecoms.com Deputy Editor Andrew Wooden joins to offer an overview of the major themes from the Consumer Electronics Show. They move on to a couple of Qualcomm announcements from the show before concluding with a look at a major European Open RAN development.

We’re delighted to welcome back special guest Elena Davidson, CEO of Liberty Comms, who had the cunning plan of devising a telecoms quiz to see if Iain and Scott are any good at their jobs. They had to do this one 2020-style, over Zoom, because the trains are on strike, but hopefully it’s still a good listen. See you in the new year!

The team finally manages to get a pod out for the first time in three weeks, which may also be the last of the year thanks to train strikes. Thankfully they are delighted to welcome special guest Phil Siveter, CEO for Nokia UK and Ireland and they start by picking his brains about some of the various technological trends his company has a stake in. The big news story of the week was Vodafone losing its group CEO, so they move on to speculate about who could replace him, before Scott concludes by moaning about the erosion of his digital civil liberties.

No guests this week as the lads record the pod a day early to make time for a big Friday lunch. They start by reviewing Vodafone’s latest quarterly numbers, which seemed to reflect the general economic gloom. Eventually they move on to one of Scott’s pet peeves, state censorship of online speech, before recklessly lurching into the high drama afflicting the cryptocurrency sector right now.

The pod is delighted to welcome back special guest Neil McRae, the departing Chief Architect at BT. They start by asking him why he’s clearing off and what, if anything, that says about BT’s technology strategy. Moving on to recent news, the three of them reflect on the carnage in the big tech jobs market, before concluding with a quickfire question round designed especially for McRae.