We have a very interesting guest on the Podcast this week.  Deryck Fay has written a fascinating book about the history of Telecoms in Ireland called “Connecting a Nation” and it’s a very surprising history.  Its starts in the 1850s, yes, when the first sub-sea cables were being laid and Ireland was the natural hub for the first Transatlantic cables.  Later its proximity to Nova Scotia made it the natural hub for the first Marconi radio services.

We then talk about the state of Telecoms during the rise of the new, and in fairness not well off, Irish state.

Finally, we get on to the last decades when there was huge investment in Telecoms and there was the tremendous growth of Mobile and the Internet and Ireland became a leader in many ways.

Deryck is a great raconteur and he tells the story with clarity and insight that I found fascinating.

I couldn’t quite find the music that Deryck wanted but you’ll see I got a close second.

Enjoy

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This Podcast is sponsored by Nettzer – Digital First Selling  - www.nettzer.com 

How can you increase Customer Acquisition at 10% of Retail Costs?  How can you have an Anytime / Anywhere Channel?

-   Digital First Selling is the answer to new Customer Acquisition, increasing revenues and cost reduction

If you are a Telco, an MVNO, or an eSIM provider we have the ideal Digital First Selling-as-a-Service solution for you.

The Nettzer Digital First Selling solution:

• Enables you to sell and onboard new customers remotely

Contact [email protected] so that we can understand your issues and provide you with the best solution.

We’re delighted to have Anurag Aggarwal of Tanla Platforms, Head of Partnerships, as our guest this week.

Anurag tells us about his early career choice in a totally different Industry and how he ended up in the CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) Industry.  You can hear that Anurag is truly a people person and he says that’s fundamental to his approach to business.

He talks about the Tanla Platforms CPaaS offering, called the Wisely Platform, and how he is working with Partners to extend it and build value for all the parties involved.

Finally, Anurag nominates his playout song, an all time classic, and tells how the song and the associated movie is a story that appeals to him.

I know you’ll enjoy this

If you are attending MWC 2022 in Barcelona we’d be delighted to meet up for a coffee and hear about your business – you can get me at [email protected]

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This Podcast is sponsored by Nettzer – Digital First Selling  - www.nettzer.com 

How can you increase Customer Acquisition at 10% of Retail Costs?  How can you have an Anytime / Anywhere Channel?

-   Digital First Selling is the answer to new Customer Acquisition, increasing revenues and cost reduction

If you are a Telco, an MVNO, or an eSIM provider we have the ideal Digital First Selling-as-a-Service solution for you.

The Nettzer Digital First Selling solution:

• Enables you to sell and onboard new customers remotely

Contact [email protected] so that we can understand your issues and provide you with the best solution.

We’re delighted to have, Andy Jones, Head of Sales for Mobile Squared who is an expert in Mobile Marketing Channels talking about how they help their customers with their Business and A2P channel development

Andy firstly talks about how his career moved from BT, to Mavenir and onto Mobile Squared.

Andy relates a very interesting discussion on how RCS developed, how Google moved into the market and how he see RCS developing.

His work with Mobile Squared enables their customers to analyse the effectiveness of different A2P marketing channels, measuring consumer engagement habits and at what price per engagement.

Mobile Squared provides Market Information to Mobile Operators, Aggregators and Enterprises using their MessageMapIQ service.

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This Podcast is sponsored by Nettzer – Digital First Selling  - www.nettzer.com 

Meet us at Mobile World Congress 2022 Barcelona to talk about Customer Onboarding and eKYC

Also, can I ask for a vote in the upcoming Mobile Ecosystem Forum, MEF, elections - I understand what it takes to develop companies in the Mobile Industry and would be delighted to understand your issues - [email protected]

Firstly, we’re delighted to have Jimmy Jones, Head of Security at Zariot,   as soon as you hear Jimmy’s accent you’ll know where he’s from.

Jimmy is has a very interesting story about his life before he got into Technology which I think will surprise you.

Jimmy started at the bottom in Worldcom installing Switches across Europe. As he developed his career he took on more of a Security role and developed a lot of expertise in this area.

Jimmy talks about IoT and how its moving from acquiring Data from Sensors to being a Data Driven Business.  He also talks about the flexibility that SIMs / eSIMs bring to the business and how they can bring their own Security issues. He also talks about how Digital Twins will transform how businesses and supply chains can be modelled and planned.

Finally Jimmy plays out with a surprising and classic song that reflects his own philosophy of life.

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This Podcast is sponsored by Nettzer – Digital First Selling  - www.nettzer.com 

How can you increase Customer Acquisition at 10% of Retail Costs?  How can you have an Anytime / Anywhere Channel?

-   Digital First Selling is the answer to new Customer Acquisition, increasing revenues and cost reduction

If you are a Telco, an MVNO, or an eSIM provider we have the ideal Digital First Selling-as-a-Service solution for you.

The Nettzer Digital First Selling solution:

• Enables you to sell and onboard new customers remotely

Contact [email protected] so that we can understand your issues and provide you with the best solution.

Firstly, we’re delighted to have Jimmy Jones, Head of Security at Zariot,   as soon as you hear Jimmy’s accent you’ll know where he’s from.

Jimmy is has a very interesting story about his life before he got into Technology which I think will surprise you.

Jimmy started at the bottom in Worldcom installing Switches across Europe. As he developed his career he took on more of a Security role and developed a lot of expertise in this area.

Jimmy talks about IoT and how its moving from acquiring Data from Sensors to being a Data Driven Business.  He also talks about the flexibility that SIMs / eSIMs bring to the business and how they can bring their own Security issues. He also talks about how Digital Twins will transform how businesses and supply chains can be modelled and planned.

Finally Jimmy plays out with a surprising and classic song that reflects his own philosophy of life.

----

This Podcast is sponsored by Nettzer – Digital First Selling  - www.nettzer.com 

How can you increase Customer Acquisition at 10% of Retail Costs?  How can you have an Anytime / Anywhere Channel?

-   Digital First Selling is the answer to new Customer Acquisition, increasing revenues and cost reduction

If you are a Telco, an MVNO, or an eSIM provider we have the ideal Digital First Selling-as-a-Service solution for you.

The Nettzer Digital First Selling solution:

• Enables you to sell and onboard new customers remotely

Contact [email protected] so that we can understand your issues and provide you with the best solution.

There is an extra Irish flavour to this podcast, if our International listeners can bear with us for Christmas.

Firstly, we’re delighted to have Simon O Donnell VP of Athonet Networks.  Simon is from Strabane in the North of Ireland and has been based in Boston for many years.  He’s well known in the Wireless Industry around the world.

Simon has a great back story of how he ended up in Boston and you wont believe what his first job was.

Simon talks through  what Athonet does in a new and exciting area in the Wireless Industry – Private LTE.  He explains all this and gives an amazing Use Case from Fort Worth Texas of how this is helping the local community.

Finally, thanks to all our podcast listeners, we never though this would be such a success when we started it, we’ve had 5,000 downloads and made many new friends.

We do wish all our listeners a safe and prosperous 2022 – enjoy the festive break, enjoy your friends and families and come back refreshed and strong next year.

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This Podcast is sponsored by Nettzer – Digital First Selling  - www.nettzer.com 

During these times of Covid and tougher Telco Sales -   Digital First Selling is the answer to new Customer Acquisition, increasing revenues and cost reduction

If you are a Telco, an MVNO, or an eSIM provider we have the ideal Digital First Selling-as-a-Service solution for you.

The Nettzer Digital First Selling solution:

• Enables you to sell and onboard new customers remotely

Contact [email protected] so that we can understand your issues and provide you with the best solution.

We’re delighted to have Gerard Smith on the podcast this week.

Gerard is a Business person and a Director of Chime, the National Deafness Charity.

Gerard talks about his Cleantech business, Passionate About Recycling. 

The company offers Recycling solutions, including:

• Tire Recycling

Gerard relates his personal story of growing up undiagnosed deaf and how long it took for this to be detected.  He relates how he learned to communicate as a young boy by working with audiologists and a Speech Therapist.

We end the Podcast with a very personal song choice from Gerard, a song that he associates with his Mother, who unfortunately was lost to Covid this year.

Its real privilege to have Gerard on the podcast and to hear about his business and how he overcome Deafness

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This Podcast is sponsored by Nettzer – Digital First Selling  - www.nettzer.com 

During these times of Covid and tougher Telco Sales -   Digital First Selling is the answer to new Customer Acquisition, increasing revenues and cost reduction

If you are a Telco, an MVNO, or an eSIM provider we have the ideal Digital First Selling-as-a-Service solution for you.

The Nettzer Digital First Selling solution:

• Enables you to sell and onboard new customers remotely

Contact [email protected] so that we can understand your issues and provide you with the best solution.

We’re delighted to have Gerry McKenna on the podcast this week.

Gerry has worked in the Software Industry since he graduated, both Internationally and in Ireland.  He’s probably best known for being the CEO of Logica Aldiscon during the fast growth days.

What’s very interesting about Gerry’s story are his reflections on the changes in the Software Industry in Ireland from the days of emigration to the current maturity and sophistication of the industry.

Gerry grew up in Monaghan near the Border and he tells how that situation affected everyone’s outlook and how, with the Peace Process and the Single Market, the National introversion turned to an extroversion and growth in confidence.

Gerry has a lot of fun and interesting stories about the growth of Logica Aldiscon and there is one in particular that I know you will find amazing.

Gerry is currently CEO of Cation and they are a provider of, as he says, the best Chat Bot available for Customer Service.

Thanks to Gerry for being a great guest and in the scope of his career he shows how things have turned out for the better for the Industry and the Country.

Music Credits:  Ennio Morricone, John Flynn

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This Podcast is sponsored by Nettzer – Digital First Selling  - www.nettzer.com 

During these times of Covid and tougher Telco Sales -   Digital First Selling is the answer to new Customer Acquisition, increasing revenues and cost reduction

If you are a Telco, an MVNO, or an eSIM provider we have the ideal Digital First Selling-as-a-Service solution for you.

The Nettzer Digital First Selling solution:

• Enables you to sell and onboard new customers remotely

Contact [email protected] so that we can understand your issues and provide you with the best solution.

We’re thrilled to have Rena Maycock on the Podcast this week.

Rena has an extraordinary career across a range of businesses and has been founder / co-founder with two of them, as you will hear.

Rena has natural Sales and Communications skills and tells us how she first started working with her Co-Founder to develop the very successful Intro Matchmaking (https://www.intro.ie/ )  after a chance encounter.  She and her partner identified a market opportunity and they developed the company through the years.  The last year has been the most successful they have had.

Rena explains why this business has been so successful – spoiler alert:  Its their focus selling skills.

Next Rena took some time out to have a child and after being a Parent for a while that she became aware of the dangers of online for Children.  She followed this up and founded Cilter, a deep tech company (https://www.cilter.ie/) that has developed Intellectual Property to protect children.  She has developed this company to be a credible player in the market.

The scarcity of seed funding  in Ireland is a topic that Rena has views on after her experience with Cilter, the lack of funding for Deep Tech companies that require some level of investment to deliver their Intellectual Property.  This has skewed early stage investment to companies that are already trading.  As she says “There is very little appetite for risk in Ireland”. Hopefully this will be addressed as a structural problem over the next few years.

Rena also writes a column for The Currency a few times a month as an Opinion Columnist. https://thecurrency.news/

Music Credits:  Ennio Morricone, John Flynn

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This Podcast is sponsored by Nettzer – Digital First Selling  - www.nettzer.com 

During these times of Covid and tougher Telco Sales -   Digital First Selling is the answer to new Customer Acquisition, increasing revenues and cost reduction

If you are a Telco, an MVNO, or an eSIM provider we have the ideal Digital First Selling-as-a-Service solution for you.

The Nettzer Digital First Selling solution:

• Enables you to sell and onboard new customers remotely

Contact [email protected] so that we can understand your issues and provide you with the best solution.

We’re delighted to have Tony Boyle on the Podcast this week. 

Tony is a well known entrepreneur, both in Ireland and Internationally, in the Wireless Industry.  Having worked for Motorola in the early days, he and his business partner, Michael McGinley, established Sigma Wireless thirty years ago and it is one of Ireland’s market leading Wireless Equipment providers.

Tony has been there for the full range of Wireless Industry developments, from TACS to GSM and now 5G LTE Private networks. He relates an interesting story about the initial projection of sales for Mobile Phones versus what actually happened.

Sigma Wireless is still innovating today and runs a very interesting mission critical network using TETRA technology used by the Public Services across the country.

Tony also gives his thoughts on what made the Sigma Team successful and on where the new innovations in the Wireless Industry will be.

We really enjoyed having Tony on the Podcast and to learn about his ability to reinvent his companies and keep them relevant in the Wireless Industry.

Music Credits:  Ennio Morricone, John Flynn, Willie Nelson

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This Podcast is sponsored by Nettzer – Digital First Selling  - www.nettzer.com 

During these times of Covid and tougher Telco Sales -   Digital First Selling is the answer to new Customer Acquisition, increasing revenues and cost reduction

If you are a Telco, an MVNO, or an eSIM provider we have the ideal Digital First Selling-as-a-Service solution for you.

The Nettzer Digital First Selling solution:

• Enables you to sell and onboard new customers remotely

Contact [email protected] so that we can understand your issues and provide you with the best solution.