Telecoms.com Podcast

The usual suspects kick off with a look at some of the first commercial 5G launches, with South Korea leading the way. While Scott is a bit confused by the tariffs, they nonetheless weigh up the pros and cons of paying for 5G. Conversation moves onto the political pressure tech companies are increasingly under, both internally and externally. They conclude with a look at ‘notspots’ i.e. areas that still lack mobile coverage. 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 core crew are back together and they kick off by discussing a recent Apple launch event in which the gadget giant announced a move into original content, financial services and news aggregation. The inevitable topic of Huawei followed and they concluded with a look at some other bits of news coming from Europe, including the dreaded ‘B’ word. 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

Super-sub Ray joins Jamie and Scott this week and kicks things off with a look at Google’s new cloud gaming initiative Stadia and its implications for the telecoms industry. All this streaming and remote processing will put additional strain on infrastructure and they move on to look at some domestic developments in that area. They conclude, inevitably, with a review of the latest developments in the war between the US and Huawei. 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 guys are joined by special guest Dan Warren from Samsung in this week’s pod and start by getting his take on some of the main themes of the recent MWC show. Dan is head of 5G research at Samsung and so has forgotten more than Scott at least will ever know about the subject, but at least doesn’t think he’s entirely full of sh*t on the matter. Jamie picks his brains on the importance of edge computing, while Iain introduces the topic of open source and the elephant in the room that is Huawei is never far away. 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, Jamie and Iain take a moment to report from a bar in the middle of the Fira at Mobile World Congress 2019. They reflect on the biggest underlying themes of the show – spoiler alert: it’s 5G innit – and compare notes on their experiences, both during the days and long into the nights. As if that alone isn’t all the pod action you could ask for, they also get special guests Bengt Nordstrom and Mary Clark involved. 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 special episode of the pod was shot early so you can all listen to it on the plane to Barcelona for Mobile World Congress 2019. The regular team is joined by special guest Paul Nolan of CC Group to give us a perspective from the many, many years he has been attending. They compare thoughts on the show itself and then discuss what are likely to be the major themes of the show, including 5G phones and the mounting aggro between the US and China that Europe is stuck in the middle of. 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

It wouldn’t be a 2019 Telecoms.com podcast without a fair bit of chat about Huawei so the guys decide to get it out of the way first this week. Then, just for a laugh, they decide to have a go at 6G even though 5G hasn’t even got going yet and we’ll let you decide whether or not that was a good idea. With MWC nearly upon us they conclude with a look at the smartphone market and wonder if it will ever surprise us again. 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 guys can’t resist talking about Europe, with the Brexit moment of truth fast approaching, and debate whether one consequence of it will a return to the bad old days of roaming charges and bill shock. They move on, inevitably, to Huawei and its ongoing drama, before concluding with a look at the growing O-RAN Alliance and the unique qualities of T-Mobile US boss John Legere. 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

Everyone’s favourite, award-winning, telecoms industry podcast is back with the usual suspects wearing the effects of the inaugural Telecoms.com Meetup the previous night. Inevitably Huawei leads the agenda once more, with the US accusing it of a bunch of crimes and misdemeanours, and Jamie has a juicy conspiracy theory to share. They move onto Nokia’s quarterly numbers and its disappointing market outlook before concluding with a look at developments in GDPR enforcement. 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 everyone belatedly getting their acts together, the boys are back in town for the first pod of the year. They delayed long enough to hit the start of quarterly earnings season and Scott starts with a look at Ericsson’s numbers. That eventually leads to discussion of Huawei’s latest geopolitical challenges, with it braving the elements at Davos to plead for reason. Jamie and Iain conclude with a look at Vodafone’s numbers and some potential existential challenges. 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 last pod of the year sees Scott and Jamie joined by special guest Ed Barton from analyst firm Ovum. Ed starts by looking ahead to next year from a digital media perspective, including a look at the trend of telecoms companies trying to buy their way into content. They move onto a look at a Nokia managing to have a great week without doing anything and conclude with reflections on the rise of digital censorship. Along the way Jamie manages to pour coffee all over himself, which is amusing. 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

In this special pod recorded on location in Portugal Scott is outnumbered by no less than three Light Reading hacks, including a first appearance from US editor Phil Harvey. They start by reviewing what little they’re allowed to discuss from the highly confidential 2020 Vision summit that brought them there, before reflecting the big telecoms news of the week concerning Huawei’s misfortunes. Scott then reflects on the imminence of the first 5G smartphones and Iain tells us about his lunch with Orange. 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 core team of Jamie, Iain and Scott are beck in town and they start by mulling over the faltering attempts of by operators to diversify away from their core business in the endless search for margin and growth. That moves them seamlessly onto the topic of operator consolidation and what is the optimal number of MNOs. Elsewhere suspicion of Chinese kit vendors remains the story that keeps on giving and Iain reckons there may be trouble ahead for 5G. 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

A globetrotting podcast this week features Ray from Light Reading as Scott’s only conversational partner, but since he equates to at least two regular pundits that’s fine. They discuss the recent AfricaCom event in Cape Town, before moving onto the latest corporate shenanigans at Telecom Italia, which unhelpfully took place between the recording and publication of this podcast. They conclude with a look at EE and Virgin Media getting in trouble with Ofcom and Oracle trying to buy its way back into telecoms. 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 Telecoms.com and Light Reading teams put in a quick quarter of an hour at the end of the Global Telecoms Awards 2018 because none of them felt like coming in the next day. They reflect on a top night featuring the hilarious Russell Kane before recapping on some of the events they had attended that week. There are also impromptu guest appearances featuring Liz from sales and Analyst Paolo Pescatore. 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 assemble once more in order to record their incoherent ramblings for your pleasure. They have all been travelling, with Jamie and Iain recalling their experiences at the Broadband World Forum event in Berlin, which included reckless consumption of absinthe. Scott, meanwhile, schlepped all the way over to Hong Kong in order to hang out with Qualcomm and talk incessantly about 5G. They conclude with a look both at the latest numbers served up by the big kit vendors and also Jamie’s latest toy. 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 special guest Mary Clark – CMO of Synchronoss – this week. Playing to some of Mary’s many strengths they focus on the relationship between operators and their customers, especially in the areas of product innovation and customer experience. Mary offers insights into how this stuff gets discussed at the top table and the challenges involved. They conclude with a look at the smart home as a battleground between operators and OTTs for access to the consumer. 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, Ian and Scott take a look at the emerging story regarding allegations that some tech kit coming out of China contains a tiny chip which enables some degree of espionage. Everyone involved in the report is denying it but someone must be lying. On that note the debate moves on to what constitutes a genuine 5G launch as opposed to the many ‘5G firsts’ being claimed by late-stage trials. They conclude with a look at the continued dispute in the US over net neutrality regulations and other geographical tangents. 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

It’s back to the usual suspects this week, with Jamie and Iain reflecting on their recent visit to Vodafone’s HQ for an update about what the operator group has been up to. Among the highlights were a holographic communications demo that even managed to impress Jamie. A number of other topics come up including, God help us, 6G, before they move onto the growing momentum behind the NB-IoT LPWAN standard and why we should care. The pod concludes with a spot of globe trotting, which includes India and Italy. 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

Another special episode this week as Scott and Wei visit the Ovum Digital Futures summit and are joined by Analyst Ed Barton. They have the bright idea of starting the recording outside, which not only results in a regrettable amount of wind noise but also tiresome bureaucratic interference (after 10 minutes), both of which are resolved by a move inside. In keeping with the theme of the event the three of them discuss trends in media consumption, the role of artificial intelligence in consumer tech and whether the voice user interface is useful. 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 has a special guest this week in the form of Telecoms Consultant William Webb, who joins Scott along with the no-less special Iain Morris of Light Reading. They start by noting that, even by recent standards, the 5G hype reached hysterical levels in the build up to MWC Americas. They move on to IoT and contemplate whether operators are even capable of moving up the value stack, before concluding with a look at the new iPhone and the significant of Apple supporting e-SIM. 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 Ray from Light Reading, who kicks things off by analysing why the big telecoms vendors seem to be stepping up their M&A activity – spoiler alert: it’s all about automation and being cloud-native. Conversation moves seamlessly on to the jigsaw puzzle that is 5G as, more than any previous generation, a lot of pieces have to be in place for it to work properly. After some meandering tangents the guys conclude with a look at the growing hostility by western governments towards Huawei and question how justified it is. 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 is back from his challenging summer holiday and just can’t wait to hang out with his podcast chums Jamie and Iain once more. They start by talking about T-Mobile US and its distinctly conservative ‘uncarrier’ event, and ponder what operators can do to make a difference. They eventually move on to discuss the thorny issue of social media censorship and conclude with a growing trend towards protectionism and countries trying to become more self-reliant on telecoms kit. 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 talent’ all on holiday we’re left with just Jamie and Ray for this week’s instalment. Ray had a chat with a senior Ericsson dude about its cunning investment plans, of which he approves. Meanwhile Jamie offers an update on what Samsung is up to, including a bunch of AI investments, and wonders what the hell the point of Bixby is. Lastly Ray ponders the implications of Cisco losing the head of its service provider business but declines to make himself available for the vacancy. 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 is in charge, about time by Telecoms.com

With Jamie back from his travels, Iain recovered from his pre-season football industry and Wei making his debut appearance on the Telecoms.com, the trio have a look at Nokia’s numbers, the spectrum of convergence success this week and a bit more China chaos. 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 is struggling in this episode, having been led astray by Ericsson’s PR team the previous evening, but he holds it together long enough to compare notes with Ray about their chat with Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm. Leaving Ray to his Rubik’s Cube, Jamie decides to join in to tell us all about how Iliad is disrupting the Italian mobile market. Then, inspired by his puzzling success, Ray treats us to a look at blockchain in telecoms to finish things off. 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 kicks off this week with tales from Transylvania, which he recently visited to hear about all the cool things Orange Romania is working on with 5G such as fixed wireless access and smart cities. Scott then moves on to chapter 11 of the ZTE saga, in which the fraught Chinese kit vendor seems to have been offered a lifeline of sorts from by the US. The guys then move on to the content side of things and pray AT&T doesn’t ruin HBO, before concluding with a tangential review the World Cup and Wimbledon. 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

It’s just Iain and Scott this week, with Jamie Shanghaied in China at their equivalent of MWC. They start by toasting a Light Reading report from the show in which the Huawei CEO had a pop at a US senator, precipitating a social media war. They then nip over to the smartphone world, where Scott has been mucking about with a few of the latest ones to work out which he should buy next. For a night-cap they conclude with a look at TIM/Telecom Italia, where the CEO has been moaning about his own board. 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

There’s a cosmopolitan theme to the pod this week with Scott reflecting on his trip to Stockholm to hang out with Ericsson and Jamie looking forward with some trepidation to breakfast in China. We also hear about a recent Connected Britain event from guest podder Shannon, who also fuels a massive tangent about the pros and cons of social media. Iain ruins the jaunty mood by lamenting the continuing attrition of jobs among the world’s operators. 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 we bring you the pod live (or at least it was when we filmed it) from 5G World 2018 in London – an event that tested the stamina of our youngest team member. Scott reflects on apparent sentiment that everyone should stop moaning about 5G business cases and just get on with it, while Iain notes the downbeat current phase of the 5G hype cycle, Jamie laments a relative lack of ambition from European operators and guest podder Elliott reflects on living the 5G dream. 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, Jamie and Iain ponder the significance of haircuts at the top of the corporate food chain, with the luxuriantly coiffured Gavin Patterson reaching the end of his tenure at BT and the often mulleted Hans Vestberg set to take over at Verizon. Iain and Jamie then reminisce about some swanky lunches they both attended with Vodafone and Orange, and declare a winner. Scott finishes with a look at a cheeky move by Ofcom to give UK operators a financial haircut. 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 this week, who can barely contain his excitement at the prospect of talking about regulation. The guys reflect on the entirely predictable SNAFU that has been the first week of GDPR, before reflecting on Nokia’s more recent devices misadventures following the failed Withings experiment. Ray concludes with look at where we are now regarding virtualization which is so authoritative that the other two wisely decide not to try to pick holes in it. 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 are back after a week of globetrotting to industry trade shows. Iain and Scott reflect on their time at Digital Transformation World and discuss whether or not telcos should even bother digitally transforming themselves. At the same time Jamie was in the US at the Big Communications Event, at which he heard about how Jio is going to continue transforming the Indian market. They then move on to the transformation of ZTE from a thriving company to a dying one, and maybe back again, and conclude with the subtle transformation of Deutsche Telekom into a small company. 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 leads the pod this week, fresh from and appearing on proper telly to talk about BT axing a bunch of jobs, and he is clearly still buzzing. We then move onto Iain, who hasn’t even been on YouTube this week and has instead been analysing Vodafone’s acquisition of a bunch of Liberty Global stuff. When Scott gets his turn he laments the catastrophic situation ZTE has found itself in and then finishes off with his trademark fearmongering about AI, with a focus on audio. 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 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

Scott and Jamie are joined by special guest Paul Nolan from PR agency CC Group, who tells us about a bit of research his company commissioned into how operators are going about the macro trend that is digital transformation and what vendors are doing to help them. Spoiler alert – it’s complicated. Scott tells us about his week in San Diego with Qualcomm, hearing all about the wonders of 5G and definitely not talking about all the other dramas Qualcomm is currently involved in. Lastly Jamie expresses his surprise that Twitter has managed to make a profit for once and can’t resist flirting with Scott. 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, Scott and Jamie welcome back Iain ‘sicknote’ Morris to get knee-deep in the barrage of quarterly financials. In the UK, BT has wobbly through the three months like a bland jelly, Nokia and Ericsson contemplate life in the spending drought, while the technology giants suck up profits like a demonic Henry the Hoover. We also have a go at guessing what Apple might spent the billions it has stashed away in the bank… 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 called a sickie this week so we drafted in Trystan, otherwise known as the man in the street, to give us a different perspective on all the stuff we bang on about. Jamie kicks things off with a look at increasing calls for transparency and what this says about the breakdown of trust, but they soon go off on a general social media tangent. Scott eventually moves things along to the US/China tensions and what this might mean for big US chip players, but slips in an Orange content tangent. They conclude with a quick trip to Amazon Go, which is using mobile technology to make the retail cashier redundant. 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 attempt to circumnavigate the globe from the comfort of their studio. Iain, Jamie and Scott start by taking a look at the UK broadband scene, where we’re increasingly looking for more fibre in our diets but we’re still not sure why. Moving on to Germany Iain claims a little scoopette with the revelation that Deutsche Telekom has had a cabinet reshuffle and gets to show off his awesome German pronunciation skills. On the other side of the pond the US seems to be getting increasingly paranoid about Chinese telecoms companies and the team concludes its journey in the Nordic region, where Nokia and Ericsson are determined to take business from each other. 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’s finally decided to do some work in 2018 and is joined by Jamie (and his many donuts) and Iain from Light Reading. They start with a review of CES – the first big tech show of the year – and its obsession with voice-driven smart speakers. They move on to the hot topic of social media censorship and, between donuts, Jamie seems to think Scott should be censored for starters, followed by government ministers tweeting about their days out instead of running the country. The team concludes with an Iain rant about 5G, for old time’s sake, which looks set to drown out all other conversation at MWC this year. 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