Telecoms.com Podcast

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.

The lads are back in the studio and delighted to welcome back Ronan Kelly of All Points Fibre Network. APFN is a UK wholesale fibre provider, so they start by finding out more about the company and how it fits into the broader market. Discussion turns to the broader economics of fibre and the UK’s very competitive environment before they eventually turn to the perennial topic of ‘fair share’ contributions to network costs by US Big Tech and conclude with a Scott rant about the Online Safety Act.

With Pierre returning to his roots, it’s a rare remote pod this week. After acknowledging a couple of great recent sessions, conversation turns to reflections on a week of quarterly earnings announcements. They start with Nokia, which felt compelled to warn the world about the negative effects of Trump’s tariffs, a topic that yields some fruitful tangents. Eventually the focus turns to Intel and its continued attempts to improve things for itself, before they conclude with a quick look at how AT&T is benefitting from recent political developments.