“And a hedgehog in a pear tree…” There was an “epic sweep” vibe to this year’s Great Telco Debate. Speakers invoked everything from the first cultivation of wheat 10,000 years ago (via Yuval Harari), to the Spanish conquistadors’ early encounters with the Aztecs (spoiler alert: it didn’t end too well), Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie. Expert witnesses framed each topic (with a strict “3 minutes: no props, no powerpoint” rule) before effortlessly urbane protagonists Chris Lewis and Graham Wilde led the case for and against specific motions across five debates. Event co-hosts Guy Daniels and Ray LeMaistre once again made keeping proceedings on track with spirited panelists and audience look easy. The decision by so many speakers to look to world-changing events is indicative of the state of telecom at the end of 2023: on the brink of the sort of radical developments that may truly alter human history. But first, we have some problems to solve. 2024: Year of the Hedgehog? “Rizz” may be the official word of the year, but Lee Myall, CEO of Neos Networks gave the GTD audience something to think about when he said it was time for telcos to “hedgehog down” and focus on […]