069: TELCO'S SOPHISTICATION PARADOX: Brilliant Tech, Rotten Pitches
Release Date: 12/17/2025
069: TELCO'S SOPHISTICATION PARADOX: Brilliant Tech, Rotten Pitches
TechBurst Talks
Telco's Sophistication Paradox: Why They Can't Explain Their Own Genius The Telco Century Club (100+ years of telco experience between us) is back with a brutal reality check on an industry that's mastered building brilliant technology but completely botched explaining why anyone should care. Charles teams up with telecoms veterans Rob Jones (Sylva Growth Partners) and Chris Lewis (Lewis Insights, The Great Telco Debate) for an unfiltered dissection of why 25 years of "transformation talk" has changed absolutely nothing. From Telstra's genius digital twin platform that died because no one...
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068: IoT Reality Check: Breaking Down the Latest Industry Benchmark Report
TechBurst Talks
Here's the complete description with show notes for Libsyn: IoT Reality Check: Fresh Insights from the Latest Benchmarking Report - Matt Hatton from Transforma Insights Breaks Down What's Really Working In this episode of TechBurst Talks, I sit down with Matt Hatton, founding partner at Transforma Insights, to dive deep into his latest IoT peer benchmark report covering 27 MNOs and MVNOs worldwide. Matt brings over 15 years of industry experience, having founded Machina Research (sold to Gartner in 2016) before launching Transforma Insights. We explore the most surprising findings from his...
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067: Why IoT Failed (And What's Finally Working) | Alistair Fulton on Microsoft Azure IoT, Semtech LoRa & Building IoT Ecosystems
TechBurst Talks
Why IoT Failed (And What's Finally Working) - Alistair Fulton After 25 years in IoT, Alistair Fulton has watched the industry make nearly every mistake possible—and he's not holding back about what went wrong. From incubating Microsoft's Azure IoT platform to growing Semtech's IoT division to $300M in revenue, Alistair witnessed the gap between IoT's trillion-dollar promises and harsh reality. This isn't another tech hype conversation—it's a brutally honest autopsy of IoT's failures and a rare look at what's actually working now. What You'll Discover: How inflated market forecasts...
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066: BEYOND SILOS: PropTech, Gen AI & the Future of Real Estate
TechBurst Talks
Antony Slumbers is a leading voice on the future of real estate, keynote speaker, and educator on AI for property leaders. Antony Slumbers doesn't just talk PropTech—he created it. Long before "PropTech" was even a word, he launched the UK's first commercial real estate website in 1995. Now he's teaching the industry how to survive what's coming next. This isn't your typical tech cheerleading session. Antony cuts through the noise to explain why PropTech's cooling hype actually signals its maturation. The party's over. Now comes the real work. The brutal truth? Most real estate companies are...
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065: BUILDING IOT TOGETHER: From Hype to Reality
TechBurst Talks
Building the IoT Ecosystem That Actually Works - Wienke Giezeman (The Things Industries) The Collaborative Approach That Made LoRaWAN a Global Success Wienke Giezeman didn't just build a company—he built an entire ecosystem. As CEO and co-founder of The Things Industries, Wienke has orchestrated one of the most successful collaborative strategies in IoT, growing from a startup idea to managing 3 million connected devices and $4M in annual recurring revenue. This isn't another IoT hype conversation. It's the inside story of how open collaboration, shared infrastructure, and ecosystem...
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064: CONNECTIONS vs COLLECTIONS: Why Telcos Keep Losing
TechBurst Talks
The Reality Check You Need Jeff Apcar spent 24 years as a Distinguished Engineer at Cisco and has zero patience for tech BS. After 46 years in the industry, he's watched every hype cycle crash and burn. What's Actually Broken 5G? Overhyped garbage that nobody can monetize. IoT? A connection problem pretending to be a collection solution. Service providers? Becoming irrelevant dinosaurs while hyperscalers eat their lunch. What's Actually Scary But quantum computing? That's where things get genuinely interesting—and genuinely terrifying. Jeff breaks down what's actually working in tech,...
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063: THE SHIFT TO SPACE: The Rise of Orbital Computing
TechBurst Talks
Space-Based Computing Revolution: Building Data Centers in Orbit with Rob DeMillo From JPL to Orbital Computing: The Future of Space Technology In this episode of Tech Burst Talks, Charles sits down with Rob DeMillo — former JPL engineer, serial entrepreneur with 7 exits from 9 startups, SparkLabs Venture Partner, and CEO of Sophia Space — to explore the cutting-edge world of orbital data centers and space-based computing. What You'll Learn About Space Computing Rob shares his extraordinary journey from space science at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to revolutionizing cloud...
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062: TELCO'S FUTURE? Look to the Middle East, Not the West
TechBurst Talks
Middle East's Tech Revolution: From Regional Ambitions to Global Leadership with Nokia's Danial Mausoof The Middle East's Rise as a Global Telecom Innovation Hub In this episode of TechBurst Talks, Charles sits down with Danial Mausoof, Vice President of Mobile Networks for the Middle East & Africa at Nokia, to explore how the Middle East tech ecosystem is transforming from regional player to global innovation leader. Discover why the region is no longer playing catch-up but is actively leapfrogging global telecom standards through strategic government investments, cutting-edge...
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061: CORPORATE CROSSFIRE: Navigating the New Global Order
TechBurst Talks
Corporate Survival in the US-China Crossfire: Geopolitical Intelligence for Asia Business Leaders Navigating Supply Chain Wars and Superpower Tensions with GeoPol Asia's Andrew Staples In this explosive TechBurst Talks episode, host Charles sits down with Andrew Staples, battle-tested geopolitical expert who transitioned from The Economist to founding GeoPol Asia, his own strategic advisory firm. Together, they dissect how corporations across Asia are caught in the crossfire of escalating US-China tensions, tariff wars, and supply chain disruptions. This isn't academic analysis — it's...
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060: SMARTPHONES DISRUPTED: Tariffs, Trends & Turmoil
TechBurst Talks
Global Tech Supply Chains Under Siege: Tariffs, AI Revolution, and the Race Beyond Smartphones Smartphone Industry Disruption and Manufacturing Pivot Strategies with Bryan Ma In this episode of TechBurst Talks, Bryan Ma joins Charles to unpack the seismic shifts reshaping the global smartphone and device industry. From US-China tariff warfare to Apple's manufacturing exodus toward India and Vietnam, they break down how supply chains are being reengineered in real time. Discover the latest AI integrations transforming everything from smartphones to PCs, plus exclusive insights from Computex...
info_outlineTelco's Sophistication Paradox: Why They Can't Explain Their Own Genius
The Telco Century Club (100+ years of telco experience between us) is back with a brutal reality check on an industry that's mastered building brilliant technology but completely botched explaining why anyone should care.
Charles teams up with telecoms veterans Rob Jones (Sylva Growth Partners) and Chris Lewis (Lewis Insights, The Great Telco Debate) for an unfiltered dissection of why 25 years of "transformation talk" has changed absolutely nothing. From Telstra's genius digital twin platform that died because no one could pitch it internally, to network APIs that sound impressive but solve problems nobody asked for - this episode exposes the sophistication paradox that's killing telco innovation.
Key Battlegrounds:
- Why telco layoffs are a perpetual pattern, not strategic responses
- The "build it and they will come" mentality that's still sabotaging 5G monetisation
- How MVNOs are eating traditional operators' lunch through superior segmentation
- AI-native platforms making MVNO entry cheaper and easier than ever
- Middle Eastern operators like e& and STC outplaying Western telcos with actual execution
- The coming satellite reality check (spoiler: it won't replace mobile networks)
- Network APIs heading to the technology graveyard alongside network slicing
Reputation-Staking Predictions for 2026: Chris bets on AI chatbots finally becoming genuinely useful. Rob sees Google dominating user experience through AI integration. Charles predicts internal AI efficiency gains - if telcos can resist their urge to overcomplicate everything.
Plus: Will the US take a stake in Nokia or Ericsson? And our final verdict on whether telcos will transform, disappoint as usual, or somehow make things worse.
Timestamps:
00:00 The Telco Century Club Returns
00:53 18 Months Later: Still Building Tech Nobody Understands
03:13 The Layoff Epidemic: Why It Never Actually Ends
08:04 Telco to TechCo Dreams Meet Harsh Reality
10:02 Network APIs: The Communication Disaster Continues
20:26 AI Reality Check: Separating Hype from Hope
28:20 Why OpenAI Might Go Broke (And Apple's Playing It Smart)
29:15 MVNOs Quietly Stealing Market Share
33:14 AI-Native Platforms: The MVNO Revolution Nobody Saw Coming
36:41 Satellite Hype Crashes Into Indoor Coverage Reality
41:15 2026 Predictions: Putting Reputations on the Line
49:35 Final Verdict: Will Telcos Finally Transform or Keep Disappointing?