Cambridge Consultants, AI and telecoms recession

This episode of the pod was recorded on the show floor of the Network X telecoms trade event in Paris. Iain didn’t make the trip so risked losing his co-host position to his colleague at Light Reading, Tereza Krasova, who joined Scott along with returning guest Gabriel Brown of Heavy Reading. The main topic of conversation was a review of the opening keynotes from the event, which focused on the opportunities offered by network APIs. After a few tangents they eventually conclude with a look at the state of progress of 6G.

This special edition of the podcast was recorded in partnership with Cerillion and features a conversation between Louis Hall, Founder and CEO of Cerillion, and Scott Bicheno, Editor of Telecoms.com.

The lads were delighted to welcome special guest James Crawshaw, Analyst at Omdia, this week. James is a telecoms software expert, so they started by analysing the recent creation of a new venture designed to open up networks to developers. They eventually move on to examine what concessions Vodafone and Three need to make to get their mega-merger approved, before concluding with a look at generative AI from a telecoms perspective, which inevitably degenerated into dystopian catastrophising.

It was just the two of them this week, which presented the opportunity to be even more self-indulgent than usual. After a few industry shout-outs, the main recipient of that extra podding latitude was AI, which has been in the news even more than usual, as the utopians and dystopians battle it out for the future direction of this era-defining tech. They eventually move on to a spat between Deutsche Telekom and Meta related to the fair contribution debate, before concluding with a look at the increasing role of the US state in the fortunes of chip maker Intel.

The guys were delighted to welcome special guest Stephane Remy of Cambridge Consultants to the pod this week. They start by finding out about Stephane’s day job, which involves all kinds of telecoms and tech cleverness. That leads to a broader discussion about the current state of the telecoms industry, before they conclude by analysing some recent AI news.

The pod was delighted to welcome back GOAT guest Mary Clark this week. Mary is now the President and COO of caller ID startup Numeracle, so they start by hearing all about her new gig. They move on to discuss the latest attempt to catalyse the network API market, featuring Ericsson and a bunch of operators, before concluding with a look at what concessions Vodafone and Three could offer to get their proposed merger approved.

After a five week absence, the pod returns from its second summer break. They were delighted to welcome special guest Mark Giles, Lead Analyst at Ookla. Iain and Scott had just come from an event hosted by BT/EE so they combine the review and analysis of that news with a discussion of what Mark does at Ookla. That left time to reflect on a piece of ‘fan mail’ Iain received and the story that seems likely to have provoked it.

The pod was delighted to welcome special guest Lee Myall, CEO of UK business comms specialist Neos networks, to this last episode before its main summer break. They start by asking Lee to introduce his company, which leads to a general discussion of the market dynamics it operates within and the UK fibre market in general. This leads naturally discussion of a new group created to lobby for a better deal for UK altnets before they conclude by looking as the tricky spot US chip giant Intel finds itself in.

The pod is delighted to welcome back one of its most returning guests – telecoms consultant William Webb. William is also a prolific author and they start by discussing his latest book, The End of Telecoms History, which asserts that the industry has reached an inflection point and needs to pivot to new business models. A key to that assertion is the slowing of mobile data traffic growth and they go on to critique forecasts that claim the contrary, before concluding with a look at Microsoft’s attempts to mitigate its responsibility for the recent global IT outage.

The pod was delighted to welcome back special guest Ed Barton, Director at Caretta Research. Ed’s field of expertise is in the digital media and entertainment markets, so they start by exploring some of the stuff that has caught his attention recently. They eventually move on to reflect on recent quarterly earnings announcement s from Ericsson and Nokia, before concluding with a critique of America’s belligerent trade policy towards China.