No guest this week so you get a looser version of the podders, including some extra fruity language.

The pod is delighted to welcome special guest Rafael De Fermin, SVP of the Nokia Networks Infrastructure business in Europe. They start by exploring exactly what Rafa’s bit of the company does, which leads to a broader discussion of the fixed-line world, on which mobile technology is increasingly reliant. They eventually move on to chat about trade shows, including the recent MWC and the surprisingly big LEAP, before concluding with a quick look at Apple’s battle of wills with the EU.

The traditional Mobile World Congress show floor recording of the pod is brought to you from the media centre this year. Once more they were delighted to welcome journalist George ‘available’ Malim as a special guest and start by reflecting on the dominant theme of the show – AI. They move on to share some of their other observations and experiences form MWC 24 until the video crew tell them to shut up because it has better things to do.

This special episode of the pod, recorded early to allow you to listen to it on the plane to Barcelona, features special returning guest – Analyst Dean Bubley. Most of the time is spent anticipating the key themes of discussion at the show, including 5G, AI, APIs and regulation, with an emphasis of cutting through the hype. Thery eventually move on to breaking news around European telecoms regulation before concluding with a quick look at Vodafone’s latest Open RAN announcements.

The pod was delighted to welcome returning special guest William Webb this week, who’s got a book out. The book focuses on how UK regulation is standing in the way of our strategic communications aims and how to fix it. Inevitably that leads to a few Ofcom and regulatory tangents, including recent developments in the EU. They move on to discuss the vision for 5G articulated at a recent Ericsson event, which includes another look at Open RAN, before concluding with a look at a neologism that describes how internet platforms inevitably deteriorate.

The pod was delighted to welcome super-sub Gabriel Brown, Analyst at Heavy Reading, who stepped in at the last minute after another guest pulled a sickie. They stated by reviewing a BT network update meeting all three attended that morning, with a lengthy tangent onto a TM Forum AI-themed gathering the day before. They move on to hear about Iain’s trip to Glasgow with Three, before concluding with a look at a deal between Disney and Epic and how it might revive the metaverse.

A last-minute guest cancellation opens the door for Iain and Scott to try some of the weapons-grade beers they were previously too scared to attempt. They decide to tackle 6G first, while they’re still capable, inspired by Iain’s recent dinner with Interdigital. That leads on to a couple of angles concerning the global semiconductor market before they conclude with some recent intrigue involving Meta, DT and the policing of online speech.

The pod was delighted to welcome its first special guest of the year – Charlie Ashton from Napatech. After reviewing his excellent selection of bribes, they get into Napatech’s areas of business, which Scott’s hangover makes him struggles to get his head around. That leads to a more general exploration of the chip sector as it pertains to telecoms before they conclude with a review of Ericsson’s and Nokia’s recent earnings announcements and what they tell us about the state of the sector.

The lads are back on the beers this week after just a single austere episode. They start by analysing the biggest story of the week, which involved a major strategic deal between Vodafone and Microsoft in which the former will lean heavily on the latter’s cloud infrastructure, inevitably including AI cleverness. The move on to discuss Iain’s recent interview with the CTO of Three, before concluding with a look at Apple’s market dominance.

After a month off for the winter break the pod is finally back and incongruously sober. Just as unusual was the presence of major news so early in the year so the lads start by analysing HPE’s mega acquisition of Juniper Networks, and what it means for the telecoms sector. They move on to speculate about the unintended consequences of America’s attempts to suppress Chinese AI development before concluding with a look at the UK Post Office IT scandal.