Wireless sensing is an emerging technology with great potential, but it is still in its early stages of development. Fiber sensing is a more mature technology that, surprisingly, has been used mostly outside of telecoms for a long time, and only recently has made its way into protecting telecom assets. Network operators may also use it to offer new revenue-generating services.I spoke with Andres Chavarria, Fiber Sensing Market Development Manager at VIAVI Solutions, about how fiber sensing works, where it has been used in the past, how network operators can benefit from it in their operations and service offerings.Fiber sensing has attracted more attention recently because it can reduce the cost and disruption caused by accidental or intentional damage to subsea cables. As we become increasingly dependent on global connectivity and geopolitical tensions rise, protecting subsea cables has become a top priority.There are many other use cases for fiber sensing, and we covered only some of them, but you will get a sense of how useful (and sadly underutilized) fiber sensing is. And we should expect its adoption in telecom to expand soon. More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

Adrian Scrase, independent consultant at EA Consult Services, has been deeply involved in the evolution of wireless standards throughout many Gs at ETSI and, as you may expect, is now working on the evolution to 6G. What can we learn from 3G, 4G and 5G, to avoid the mistakes of the past? How can we find a sustainable innovation trajectory that is grounded in realistic expectations for what new technology can deliver, how much operators can invest, and how much subscribers are willing to pay? Will we be able to avoid the inflated expectations that plagued 5G? More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.  

This is a podcast I recorded with Claudia Bacco Editor-in-Chief at Global Airspace Radar on what I learned about drones during a recent trip to China for the Huawei analyst event. This is the description of the podcast, “Telecommunications supporting drones, with a twist”: Monica Paolini, Principal, Senza Fili, joined our editor-in-chief Claudia Bacco to discuss telecommunications supporting drones. A twist is mentioned in the title and the twist is the view from China. Having just returned from a trip to China, Monica shares insights from visiting China Telecom including their drone program. The twist goes further in that the telecommunications company is leading the effort to test drone flights as opposed to the regional air traffic control organisation being in the lead. Certainly different than what we’re seeing in Europe and the US. We also dug deeper into the use of spectrum and the mobile infrastructure in this endeavour, what can be re-used, what needs to be changed/enhanced. Join us in the discussion which leans more toward the telecommunication part of the equation. More on Global Airspace Radar at https://globalairspaceradar.com/ More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

Wireless security is becoming increasingly challenging to manage due to growing geopolitical tensions, the rise of sophisticated tools and profitable targets, and the potential for AI to make attacks easier and more effective. In this conversation with Silke Holtmanns, Telecommunication Security Expert at Blue Hour Consulting Oy, we delve beyond the stats to discuss how operators manage wireless security and how they can enhance their effectiveness in preventing or dealing with attacks. Silke has hands-on experience from her work with operators and gives us the insider perspective. We covered the fake small cells in South Korea’s KT network, the SIM farm attack in New York (possibly overhyped for political reasons by the FBI), censorship and security tradeoffs, the non-technological security risks, the impact of APIs and AI on security, spear phishing, and the role of regulation.   More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

AI will have a transformative impact across all elements in telecom networks, and that includes transport. Yet, most of the attention these days is on the RAN, the core and data center infrastructure. In this conversation with Kristian Toivo, Executive Director at TIP, we tried to remedy this and focused on how AI is changing the transport requirements and how the ecosystem and infrastructure will have to evolve to meet them. As AI gets integrated into our networks, data center distribution and data transfer requirements will have a major impact on the transport infrastructure, as well as monetization strategies of service providers. You can find out more about TIP’s activities on transport here or, even better, attend FYUZ 2025 in Dublin on November 3-5. More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

AI is everywhere, RAN included. But many questions remain. What role does it take within the RAN? Where can it help and how? How do we transition from an initial, limited use of AI to optimize the RAN to a native AI RAN with L4 automation? Nirlay Kundu, Head of Technology Standards, IMDEA Networks, explores all these topics and more, combining the experience from his work at Verizon in the US and the research he is currently doing at IMDEA in Spain. Plus, we discussed the implications of AI in accountability, the evolving role of humans and agents in refining the job of the underlying models. More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

CBRS is gaining traction in industrial and, a bit more slowly, in enterprise networks and some of the complexity and limitations of the initial CBRS have been addressed. Yet, recently, we have seen attempts to turn CBRS into another full-power licensed band. This would give mobile operators exclusive access to the spectrum, as they do with other cellular licensed bands, and enterprises would no longer be able to use the spectrum without arrangements with mobile operators. Dave Wright has been working on CBRS from the very beginning and was at the helm of the OnGo Alliance for a long time, and he continues to work on it at Salt Point Strategies and Spectrum for the Future. He gave an in-depth overview of how we got to today’s CBRS and what to expect in the future. We also talked about dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) and how to strike a balance among licensed, license-exempt and dynamic shared spectrum. More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

Not everybody working in telecom is an engineer. For one, I am not (my college degree is in Philosophy, and my PhD is in Cognitive Science/Neuroscience), and I believe that this was an advantage as it allowed me initially to look at the technology from the outside. In this discussion with Lindia Ligios, Principal Innovation Solutions Consultant at Digital Catapult (spoiler: she is also not an engineer), we talked about how a non-telecom background may be an asset, especially in the age of AI and especially for women (who are more likely to come from a non-engineering background). What are the challenges and benefits for those with a non-telecom background and for the organization hiring them? How should you plan for a telecom career if you don't have a technical background? Any differences between the US and Europe? (Spoiler two: You can learn about technology even without a college degree or formal education in technology) Linda works at Digital Catapult, which, as we discussed, is an organization that is powerful in nurturing the UK's telecom community. However, Digital Catapult's primary role is to support technological development in the UK, and its work is outstanding. More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

Wi-Fi in the 6 GHz band is rapidly expanding through increased adoption (where allowed) and availability (in countries that have now opened or are opening the band to unlicensed use). Yet, there has been speculation that the US may roll back Wi-Fi availability and allocate part of the band to cellular. Who else could be better to guide us through all this than Kevin Robinson, the CEO at the Wi-Fi Alliance? We discuss what could possibly happen and what we are fairly certain will not happen in the 6 GHz band in the US, while also providing an update on the 6 GHz progress in the rest of the world and why it is so valuable for indoor connectivity. More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

AI is here to stay and will become more pervasive with time. But how will it penetrate telecom networks and organizations? Azita Arvani and I explored this question along multiple dimensions. Is it going to be centralized or at the edge? Do we need GPUs at the edge? How quick should the transition from AI as a tool to AI-native networks be? How will sovereignty shape the adoption of AI? How aggressively should we push AI adoption? Should we wait until it gets to a more mature stage? Are we over-investing in it? We don’t have final answers (and nobody does), but we shared our perspectives. Azita just finished a paper, “Beyond Connectivity: Telecom's AI-Driven Future in 5G-Advanced” in collaboration with Mick Etoh at the University of Osaka, that covers in more detail what we discussed in the Sparring Partners. More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

AI carries profound implications for national, infrastructure, and personal security, with today’s geopolitical tensions adding further complexity. AI poses new challenges not only to governments and society, but also to telecom regulators, vendors, service providers, and the broader ecosystem. In this episode, I speak with Chris Jefferson from Advai, where he works to make AI safe and reliable, and to identify and mitigate potential biases and misuse. We discuss what it means to build sovereign AI and its impact on national and infrastructure security. We explore how to balance sovereignty with the need for cross-border collaboration and standardization, how to mitigate risks and threats from malicious actors without stifling innovation, and how what responsibility operators and hyperscalers have to deploy AI safely and ethically to reduce societal risks. More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

All laptops have Wi-Fi, and yet not many have 5G connectivity. Why is it so? Giovanni Severini, Principal Group Program Manager at Microsoft, told us how and why this happened, and how this may be changing, especially in the enterprise space. Tethering to the phone is a common workaround, but it limits performance. This may change with the increased adoption of eSIM, which makes it easier to connect to cellular networks. But Giovanni argues that there is more to this and that the conditions are ripe for a surge in cellular connectivity in laptops. More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

How many connected enterprises do not have Wi-Fi? Hardly any. Yet, there are many different ways to use Wi-Fi within the enterprise. And to decide whether Wi-Fi is sufficient or if in-building cellular networks, such as CBRS, are also needed. I talked with Bart Giordano, President at Ruckus Networks, about how the role of Wi-Fi in the enterprise keeps evolving, with the evolution of Wi-Fi technology and access to the 6GHz band. More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

Complain as much as you want about 3GPP or IEEE — they’ve given us global standards that have been essential to the adoption, low cost, and ease of use of cellular and Wi-Fi. I spoke with Sebastian Barros, Managing Director at Circles, about the future of global standards and shared access to new technologies. Are we on the verge of losing this? Geopolitical divisions are pushing us toward building barriers, making it harder to sustain the collaborative work that underpins global standards, openness, interoperability — and, more broadly, robust and safe technological innovation. More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

Wireless infrastructure can be expensive to build, and the business case is difficult to make in indoor and digital divide environments. Sharing the infrastructure is a powerful and efficient way to reduce costs and encourage deployments, but so far, it has been difficult to do because the business models and incentives were not there. I talked with Sarah Aberg, Chief Legal Officer at Helium, about how decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs) use blockchain technology to enable a new way to share telecom infrastructure, where both infrastructure owners and service providers can make a large number of transactions in real time in a fast, low-cost, simple and transparent way. This platform provides incentives for enterprises, network operators, public and community entities and venue managers to deploy the infrastructure, and for service providers to use that infrastructure when they need it. Helium has been successfully using this model for some time with Wi-Fi networks. However, to scale it, Helium and others need a regulatory framework to protect all the players involved. Sarah tells us about how she is working on this with the SEC in the US to incorporate DePIN into the new crypto regulation. You can find more on this at: Decentralized Physical Infrastructure, Written Submission to SEC Crypto Task Force (June 17, 2025)  Helium Draft Legislative Amendment Proposal, Written Submission to SEC Crypto Task Force (July 21, 2025) More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

We all use Wi-Fi at home. It is so pervasive that people no longer think of having a broadband connection at home; instead, they will tell you they “have Wi-Fi.” What is talked about less is that the Wi-Fi connection is getting better and more secure. I covered this gap with Tiago Rodrigues, President and CEO at the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA). As the number of devices and the traffic loads increase, we need more capabilities and security assurance from our home Wi-Fi networks. Wi-Fi technology has evolved to meet our needs, but we need to do a better job in educating users about the new capabilities and encouraging adoption. What’s the best way to do this? More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

A recurring challenge in wireless is how to get new technology to the market and generate revenue. We are good at deploying new technologies, but struggle to monetize them sufficiently to profit from the investment made to deploy them. This has happened with 4G, is happening with 5G and is likely to happen with AI and 6G, and it is not because the technology is not good enough. What creates the disconnect? Do we need to find new ways to bring technologies to the market? Alex Lawrence, Managing Director at TelcoForge, and I ponder this topic, and explore new approaches to get new technologies to selectively deliver what we need, and avoid deploying them just because they are available. More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

Why is it taking so long for telecom service providers to get enterprises into the fold and deliver the connectivity and services they need? Caroline Chan, VP and GM of Telco AI, Network, and Edge Group at Intel, has worked closely with enterprises across various verticals for a long time, and shares her insights on the challenges of reaching the enterprise and how to address them. We talked about the need for a rich and well-synched ecosystem, to understand what enterprises need, and to develop the right frameworks and services. We need more than technology to bring the enterprise to the fold. We need to listen to the enterprises, get out of the telecom-centric comfort, and develop a new communication approach. More on Senza Fili at https://senzafili.com Sign up for the mailing list at https://senzafili.com/senza-fili-mailing-list/ to receive invitations to Sparring Partners events and updates on what we do.

A conversation with Sameh Yamany at VIAVI Solutions on how APIs and digital twins can drive digital innovation

This episode is a special one for me. David Cleevely – serial entrepreneur, investor, policy adviser, and founder of Analysys and Cambridge Wireless (just to name a couple) – was the person who hired me straight out of school, with no telecoms experience whatsoever, and gave me the opportunity to pursue my passion for the industry. It’s the kind of serendipity he explores in his new book. But this podcast isn’t about me – it’s about not just letting serendipity happen, but actively encourage it. David and I talk about how serendipity creates the right environment for innovation and growth across time and context: Renaissance, England, China (past and present), Silicon Valley, and, of course, Cambridge. If you want to explore further, read David’s just-published and inspiring book: Serendipity: It Doesn't Happen by Accident.