Senza Fili Sparring Partners

Opinionated conversations in telecoms with Monica Paolini, Senza Fili, and her guests. Networks should be open, and so should our discussions on them

Senza Fili Sparring Partners is a technology podcast hosted by SenzaFili, with 108 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

SenzaFili hosts Senza Fili Sparring Partners, a technology show with 108 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #122

  The changing role of mobile operators. With Itsuma Tanaka at DOCOMO Euro-Labs

  Aug 14, 202638 min

  The mobile market is maturing as a vertical, limiting new revenue opportunities, but technological innovation also creates opportunities to improve network efficiency and capabilities (while increasing complexity, however). In this Sparring Partners, I talked with Itsuma Tanaka , CEO of Docomo Euro-Labs, about how MNOs in Japan and elsewhere are changing in response to user expectations, new competition and new technology. Among the topics we discussed: The role of basic connectivity and new services that expand it AI optimization, satellite, ISAC Different impact of geopolitical environment in Japan, Europe and the US Reducing network complexity to facilitate adoption of new technologies You can watch the video of this podcast on Sparring Partners on Substack More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com

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  Episode #121

  London, Berlin, New York: Where is indoor connectivity at its best and worst? With Luke Kehoe at Ookla

  Aug 7, 202633 min

  We all know that most traffic (80% or even more) comes from indoors and most of it goes through Wi-Fi (another 80%). This means that cellular is not doing very well indoors, which is something we experience all the time. Yet, reliable data on how bad indoor coverage is has been hard to get. Luke Kehoe , Lead Analyst at Ookla, has embarked on a project to measure indoor connectivity accurately and has done so in London, Berlin and New York. In this Sparring Partners, we discuss the methodology, the results and the implications of the research. Not surprisingly, the results confirm that, yes, indoor coverage is poor, but possibly even poorer than we (or at least I) would have guessed. It is not a name-and-shame exercise though (spoiler: London does not come out too well), because the reasons and the distribution of bad indoor coverage vary across locations and reveal a diverse set of challenges and ways to deal with them. But I won’t say more. This is a discussion packed with new information and food for thought, so watch or listen to it. You can watch the video of this podcast on Sparring Partners on Substack Read Luke’s article on his preliminary results here .

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  Episode #120

  Quantum to scale AI and solve token economy bottlenecks. With Julio Gonzalez-Saenz at Vodafone

  Jul 31, 202637 min

  AI is power hungry. The token economy is both a necessity to allocate limited resources and monetize AI, but also imposes constraints on its adoption. What’s the solution to this? In this Sparring Partners, Julio Gonzalez-Saenz, AI Champion at Vodafone UK, makes the case for quantum as a technology that allows us to scale the adoption of AI by reducing its computational and power requirements and limiting token-economy bottlenecks. The contribution of quantum in telecom networks: Optimize use of data center resources Overcome AI token anxiety Reduce GPU requirements Create new real-world use cases for AI Reduce energy consumption You can watch the video of this podcast on Sparring Partners on Substack More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com https://sparringpartners.substack.com/

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  Episode #119

  Data sharing and open interfaces for AI optimization. With Paul Patras at Net AI and the University of Edinburgh

  Jul 20, 202632 min

  We know that AI models need high-quality, reliable data to produce good outcomes. But do operators have access to the data and can share it across vendors? Do we have the standards in place to facilitate this, and are they sufficient to share data reliably? In this episode of Sparring Partners, Paul Patras , CEO and Co-founder of NetAI and Professor of Mobile Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh, works on these issues on a daily basis and takes us through how shared and synthetic data and standards are essential to effective AI deployment in the telco networks, and what to do when the necessary is not accessible. What we talked about: Why is it difficult and yet necessary to share data Standards are crucial, but not sufficient Collaboration within the ecosystem is crucial to success Digital twins and synthetic data are a valuable complement to network data You can watch the video of this podcast on Sparring Partners on Substack More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com

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  Episode #118

  Operators are not like FIFA. Uncut analyst views from Chris Lewis and Monica Paolini

  Jul 12, 202643 min

  I have to admit: I got stumped while looking for a title. Gemini was also stumped and offered no helpful suggestions. I think this is because Chris Lewis at Lewis Insight and I took a very broad look at the current telco environment and tried to extrapolate where it is going, leveraging seven decades of combined life in telecoms, and openly talking about our hopes and our fears. It felt like a cathartic experience, as Chris put it after we recorded it, and we left nothing untouched. And we went on a tangent about why mobile operators may want to be like FIFA, but they are unlikely to succeed. And that's a good thing. We talked about Wi-Fi, enterprise, private networks, NTN, utilities, data centers, hyperscalers, 5G, 6G, AI, AI-generated traffic, monetization, IT, China, and the need for better storytelling and efficiency in telecom. And I certainly left out some other topics we covered. You can watch the video of this podcast on Substack’s Sparring Partners . All content and subscriptions are free. More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com

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