Nokia, AI-RAN and Starlink

The lads are delighted to welcome Tom Cox, CEO of Humara, to this week’s pod. Humara is all about providing sales agents to telcos so, after hearing about the evolution of the company, plenty of agentic AI tangents ensue. They eventually move on to explore the psychology of human/AI interactions, including the need for ‘small talk’, before they conclude with a look at SpaceX’s decision to appoint Qualcomm as a major vendor partner in its bid to become America’s fourth mobile network operator.

This week the lads were delighted to welcome guest Øyvind Skjervik of specialist operator Tampnet to the pod. Tampnet is all about offshore connectivity, especially for oil rigs, so they get straight into exploring the unique logistical and technological challenges that come with making sure they’re always connected. Øyvind had to fly halfway through the pod so once he left Iain and Scott got into a couple of news items, specifically the UK government’s desire to have greater powers over the telecoms sector and early signs of a credit crunch in the bubbly AI sector.

No guest again this week, which allows the lads to dig deeper into some of the week’s news. After hearing about Iain’s travels and Scott’s gigging, they get into analysis of Nokia’s latest quarterly earnings. The company is increasingly dependent on the AI boom for its growth and that comes with pros and cons. That naturally leads them onto the topic of AI-RAN, in which Nokia is heavily invested, and they ponder how compelling a proposition it is. They eventually conclude with some news around LEO satellite company Starlink, including its planned foray into terrestrial mobile and its throttling of the Ukrainian military.

Just the three of them this week as Ian and Scott both return from road trips. Scott was at the Network X trade show in Vienna and he brings stories of Schnitzel, Kaiserschmarrn, and orderly road crossing. Then we hear about Iain’s trip with VMO2 in rural Wales in search of direct-to-device satellite connectivity, which leads to a broader chat about the role satellite now plays in the communications mix. They eventually move on to analyze the implications of Vodafone abandoning its UK Open RAN plans before concluding with recent news from Nokia and Ericsson.

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.

The lads celebrate a return to the studio by recording a pod two days in a row, so the lucky audience gets a bonus one this week. They’re delighted to welcome back special guest Ray Dolan, CEO of Cohere Technologies and they start with an update on the clever radio technologies Cohere is involved in. One of those involves the introduction of ISAC (integrated sensing and communication) so they move on to discuss the opportunities that offers, before concluding with an analysis of Huawei’s first new smartphone chip in years, including its geopolitical implications.