Telecoms.com Podcast

The lads are delighted to welcome back special guest telecom consultant William Webb. Also a prolific author, William has published two books since his last appearance, so they get straight into the first topic of ISAC (integrated sensing and communications) and whether it will be the defining new feature of 6G. His other book focuses on direct-to-device satellite services, especially the economics of consumer provision. This coincides with some recent news concerning Starlink and its owner Elon Musk, so they go off on those tangents before concluding with a look two contrasting recent developments in the UK telecoms M&A scene.

Just Iain and Scott this week, so the lads take the opportunity for a deeper dive into some broader telecoms topics. They start by exploring the current state of play of 6G, now just a few years away from its expected launch. They ask whether another ‘G’ is even needed and, if so, what purpose it will serve, noting there seems to be little industry excitement around the concept. They eventually move on to discuss the prospects for Swedish radio kit vendor Ericsson, as its new CEO takes the helm, before concluding by assessing the opportunities and threats posed by the rapid proliferation of AI agents.

The lads are delighted to welcome special guest Mahesh Krishnaswamy, CEO of wireless innovator Taara, this week. After an opening tangent comparing travel anecdotes they get into what Taara does, which is using infra-red light to transmit high capacity telecoms signals that Scott reckons should be called ‘wireless fibre’. Taara originated in Google’s ‘moonshot’ division so they start there, before moving to the present-day applications of its tech. They eventually move on to discuss the emergence of the voice user interface as the likely eventual replacement to today’s touch UI, before concluding with a sceptical look at the growing presence of AI agents.

The lads are delighted to welcome back former Telecoms.com deputy editor Jamie Davies, in his first appearance on the pod for six years. As you would expect of people so familiar with each other, the conversation is exceptionally open and unstructured. Among the major themes are Vodafone, which was going through its bid to merge with Three when Jamie worked there. They eventually move on to look at the vendor prospects for 6G before reflecting on the latest panic about losing control of AI.

In their second recording in two days, the lads are delighted to welcome back special guest Danielle Rios, CEO of Totogi. It is also the second day in a row of kicking-off with some bourbon, with Danielle significantly raising the bar with some extra special treats. They start by exploring how Totogi is going about introducing the latest AI developments into much of the telecoms stack. This inevitably leads to a broader AI discussion in the light of recent alarm bells raised by whistleblowers, before they have a quick chat about the latest iPhone and conclude with an Iain scoop about Nokia’s R&D division Bell Labs.