Telecoms.com Podcast

Scott and Jamie once more risk exposing their dilettantism this week as they welcome Gabriel Brown – an Analyst, no less, from Heavy Reading. They start with a look at the longest courtship in telecoms: T-Mobile US and Sprint, who have finally decided to make honest operators of each other. They move onto 5G – one of Gabriel’s core areas – and he becomes so animated in response to a random question from Pierre that he won’t stop banging the microphone. They conclude with some breaking news (at least it was at the time) concerning the battle for the soul of TIM (Telecom Italia) between Vivendi and Elliott. Stay up to date with the most important telecoms stories from around the world with the Telecoms.com daily newsletter. Delivered FREE and direct to your inbox every day: http://ow.ly/XPA150KWZmO

Jamie and Scott are joined by Iain from Light Reading this week and they start by discussing the pros and cons of becoming a communications-slash-content provider. Is convergence a sound business strategy or is it better to just stick with what your company’s best at? Is it good for you to consume a lot of VOD? Not during a podcast it would seem as Iain and Scott are forced to improvise while Jamie literally goes for a slash. Unperturbed they move onto the ongoing subject of Chinese vendors getting a hard time from western authorities, with ZTE coming under so much fire it might have to slash its operations significantly. They conclude with a look Amazon, which thanks to a convergent strategy for its Prime premium service has managed to acquire over 100,000 subscribers. The guys speculate about why Amazon has decided to release this data but conclude it’s unlikely to slash its heavy investment anytime soon. Stay up to date with the most important telecoms stories from around the world with the Telecoms.com daily newsletter. Delivered FREE and direct to your inbox every day: http://ow.ly/XPA150KWZmO

The pod regulars are joined by Ray from Light Reading once more this week. They start with a discussion about how inadequate the policing of the digital economy is, with legislators and regulators struggling to keep up with the pace of technological change. Jamie feels so strongly about it that he’s moved to frankly shocking profanity. He then composes himself long enough to tell us about the tension between national and state-level attitudes to technology in the US, allowing Ray to step in and restore some decorum to the exchange before Peterborough gets some harsh treatment. They conclude by observing snowballing interest in automation across the telecoms industry, which Ray uses as an opportunity to shamelessly plug Light Reading stuff. Stay up to date with the most important telecoms stories from around the world with the Telecoms.com daily newsletter. Delivered FREE and direct to your inbox every day: http://ow.ly/XPA150KWZmO

This week only Scott and Jamie managed to make it into the studio after the long-weekend of chocolate, countryside walks and beer. This week sees the end of the 5G auction with the guys wondering why Ofcom feels it can charge so much, Facebook just continues to offer easy pickings for the technology journalists of the world and we finish off with a look at how to do M&A correctly… Stay up to date with the most important telecoms stories from around the world with the Telecoms.com daily newsletter. Delivered FREE and direct to your inbox every day: http://ow.ly/XPA150KWZmO

Scott and Jamie are joined by Ray from Light Reading and go straight into the big story of the week: Cambridge Analytica. The guys more or less agree that it’s ultimately all about how little control we have over our personal data and wonder what can be done about it. More importantly they also speculate about which Star Wars characters they are. Ray steers conversation onto 5G for a change and stresses that it’s all very well banging on about clever radio technology, but unless you deal with the unsexy stuff none of it is going to happen. Finally Jamie manages to find a window in his cryptocurrency trading schedule to tell us about his chat with Vodafone’s UK CEO, who was refreshingly honest about the challenges he faces. Stay up to date with the most important telecoms stories from around the world with the Telecoms.com daily newsletter. Delivered FREE and direct to your inbox every day: http://ow.ly/XPA150KWZmO

The usual suspects start by discussing an Ericsson interview Scott did at MWC but soon go off onto a random tangent about devices, about which Jamie claims to be indifferent despite being umbilically attached to his. Inevitable comparisons with Nokia ensue and they speculate about who is doing better. They both need to catch up with Huawei and they will probably be helped in that aim by Donald Trump, who seems determined to make it as difficult as possible for China to do business with the US, and Iain wonders why. They conclude with a look at the smart home market and dare to dream about the potential wonders of a smart pub. Stay up to date with the most important telecoms stories from around the world with the Telecoms.com daily newsletter. Delivered FREE and direct to your inbox every day: http://ow.ly/XPA150KWZmO

Iain, Jamie and Scott move on from the rigours of MWC by reflecting on some of the conversations they had in Barcelona about how much progress we have made with NFV. The answer seems to vary wildly according to who you speak to and it seems clear that industry consensus remains elusive. Jamie then talks us through some of the highlights of the next version of Android, including a new indoor location technology, which leads to conversational tangents including Bluetooth and the MWC smartphone app. Scott concludes by reviewing the many positive messages he heard at the Women4Tech series of talks and discussions at the end of MWC, and notes how good it would be to have more female voices on the pod itself. Stay up to date with the most important telecoms stories from around the world with the Telecoms.com daily newsletter. Delivered FREE and direct to your inbox every day: http://ow.ly/XPA150KWZmO

Such is our devotion to podcasting that we even did one from the MWC show floor in Barcelona. Scott and Jamie were joined by Dan Jones from Light Reading and Ed Barton from Ovum. They started with a look at the state of the megatrends that are 5G and IoT, with Scott reckoning talk around them got a lot more focused this year but some of the other guys were not so sure. Jamie has been focusing on artificial intelligence at the show, Dan has been all over the latest smartphone launches and Ed was intrigued by some of the latest moves concerning digital entertainment on mobile. We have pulled out all the stops to get this out to you in time for your flights home, so try to find some wifi and get downloading. Stay up to date with the most important telecoms stories from around the world with the Telecoms.com daily newsletter. Delivered FREE and direct to your inbox every day: http://ow.ly/XPA150KWZmO

With the biggest telecoms event of the year just around the corner Scott, Jamie and Iain bring you this special preview of Mobile World Congress 2018 for you to download and listen to on the plane. Scott starts with the obvious stuff – the big buzzwords that are 5G and IoT. The level of 5G fervour will hit fever pitch but how many solid business cases will there be for the new wireless generation? The same goes for IoT, which promises much-needed diversification for operators but who’s buying. Jamie thinks artificial intelligence is no less important a tech trend as it will underpin everything else but, inevitably, the lads express concern about machines talking over the world. Iain concludes by asking if we’ve hit peak MWC and wonders how long the sprawling show can keep growing. Stay up to date with the most important telecoms stories from around the world with the Telecoms.com daily newsletter. Delivered FREE and direct to your inbox every day: http://ow.ly/XPA150KWZmO

This week’s pod had to battle the odds to take place at all, with Jamie and Iain both on holiday and Telecoms Towers undergoing refurbishment, but Ray from Light Reading found a window in his hectic schedule to keep Scott company. First we heard about Ray’s trip to sunny Valencia to learn all about the state of European fibre. He expressed frustration at the apparent lack of urgency in building fibre to the building as it’s as important piece of infrastructure as any and the potential returns on investment are considerable. Then Scott explores a move that definitely hasn’t yielded any ROI as Nokia looks to move out of the digital health business only a couple of years after buying Withings for its expertise in that area. They finish with a reminder to make sure you download our MWC 2018 preview special before you fly out to Barcelona. Stay up to date with the most important telecoms stories from around the world with the Telecoms.com daily newsletter. Delivered FREE and direct to your inbox every day: http://ow.ly/XPA150KWZmO