Transcript
Pablo Tomasi: So welcome back to the Telco Drift, a podcast exploring tech telecoms and other sci-fi stories. I'm Pablo your host. And in today's episode, I'm joined by Amy Cameron, Managing Director for Research at STL Partners. So Amy, welcome to the Telco Drift.
Amy: Thanks for having me.
Pablo Tomasi: So first of all, today we are going assess one month after MWC what really stuck with us, what sort of got lost in translations and what's going to happen for the rest the year. But we will also deep dive on what it means to be an analyst.
Pablo Tomasi: Almost a philosophical question. So let's start maybe with that. Know a little bit more about yourself. Can you share some interesting facts about yourself and also how you ended up becoming an analyst?
Amy: Okay, well, I think probably the most interesting thing about me is that I lived in China for two years and studied Mandarin at the time, and so I still speak some Mandarin, although it's very rusty, so 大家好! And and um so what happened is after I lived in Beijing, I came to the UK and I studied Chinese politics, like you know, what that's what you do, you do a master's. And I thought, I'm going change the world and work for risk control and do economic and political risk analysis. But I graduated in 2011 and eleven and um I did not have a CV stacked with great internships.
Amy: So nobody hired me to do that. However, I did find a job on the telecoms industry team for a broader like economic risk and industry research company, which was called BMI and is now owned by Fitch, the ratings agency.
Pablo Tomasi: Mm-hmm.
Amy: And that's where I learned all about telecoms. And I was covering the Middle East and Africa, and then I was heading the team. So great opportunities as a young analyst and like everyone else in telecoms. You come and never leave because it's endlessly fascinating.
Pablo Tomasi: It's interesting because your path is like surprisingly, actually, didn't know, surprisingly close to what I did because I did study War Studies at King's College and I kind of wanted to go the same route that you were thinking, like political risk, countries and so forth.
Pablo Tomasi: um But then I needed to find a job and the first one was in the telecom space and I was like, well, you know job is a job, so let let's stick to that. So it's interesting.
Amy: Yeah, exactly. And you also are still in telecoms, so clearly find it endlessly fascinating too.
Pablo Tomasi: Yeah, I think I think that that's part of the beauty of technology. I mean, to be fair, I do think that it is it should be as a less depressing market compared to political country risk and something where you
Amy: yeah.
Pablo Tomasi: you didn't You don't need to be so disappointed every time that some big persona makes some terrible decisions. So makes life a little bit easier and and definitely like it is it is fascinating.
Pablo Tomasi: So let's encourage younger analysts to pursue a career in telecoms.
Amy: Yeah.
Amy: Yeah, yeah, definitely. And I think that the joy is that it touches on everything, right? Like geopolitical tensions are significantly impacting the opportunities for the telecoms industry right now. So, um you know, it all comes back one day or another.
Pablo Tomasi: Yeah, everything is useful, I think, in in this in in this job. And I know like different analysts have different backgrounds, so from you know chemistry, physics. ah Some people actually like have a background in telecom, but no, that's not interesting enough. But I mean, that that's settled. So encouraging people to become analysts, that's point number one. We got it. Now let's let's sort of circle back a little bit more on on the market. So you went to MWC.
Pablo Tomasi: I suppose, right?
Amy: I did.
Pablo Tomasi: So what technology or what bit of the show impress you the most? and And I know there's going to be probably already like quite a few sort of post-MWC shows. So for me, what I would like to understand is really, okay, we are a month not ah a month after, maybe two months, whatever, after MWC. What do you think is still relevant, is still sort of hot in a sense?
Amy: I mean, I think that really trying to unpick how organizations are adopting AI internally and leveraging what they learn internally to
Amy: engage better with their customers or develop new services. And in that order, what they have learned internally that they can then use to help their customers grapple with the technology, those are the those are the bits which I think are fundamentally going to separate the companies in a few years from now that are successful and those that are less successful because this technology is like permeating everything that we do.
Amy: do it touches every company and for once, it's kind of interesting because tech companies and telcos alike are in the same challenge of how do I successfully use this technology within my organization and to improve how I engage with my customers and like tech companies Sure, they're maybe more technical than telecoms operators are in many domains, but it doesn't mean that they're necessarily better at figuring out how to make a cultural transformation as significant as what AI is doing. And so it's quite interesting that, you know, just to see how different companies are approaching that and what what they're doing with this. And I think that is that is probably the
Amy: the most interesting long-term trend that going to come out of MWC. And this is the first year, like last year, there was all this agenda, KI, blah, blah, blah, but it wasn't real.
Amy: And now there are some agents. And so there is something real to make an assessment and learnings on.
Pablo Tomasi: I like your take the last year it wasn't real because sometimes it happens you know it like sometimes you have that the beautiful plan right and then slow and steady you start rolling out but effectively you're saying some some companies are eating their own dog food is that how you say it in English better than others
Amy: There's lots of ways to say it. That is one of them.
Pablo Tomasi: Which is, it's it's I think it's iss the right approach. It's it interesting because some time ago in ah in a different life I used to cover IoT and they were like sort of a similar path in a sense.
Amy: Yeah.
Pablo Tomasi: Some companies were like first testing it internally for you know their own whatever campus applications, whatever. And then they were learning a little bit, okay, what works, what doesn't work and like how can that be solved?
Pablo Tomasi: the IoT market didn't really become as big as as people wanted but still you know some some people made made some money out of it and and are you optimistic on AI or pessimistic and I know it's it's kind of broad but
Amy: I think broadly optimistic. you know I think this has but more to do with like how somebody is by nature than necessarily how they feel about a specific technology. I'm quite an optimistic person. I think anybody who's seen me will attest that I'm quite lively and smiley. and I feel like...
Amy: i feel like Yeah, i feel I feel like an optimist. It doesn't mean that I don't think that there is a significant risk that we're gonna go through like a period of absolute chaos, um which you know and in technology terms, that might be like a period of chaos of like 10 years and that it'll get better afterwards.
Pablo Tomasi: over 10 years of...
Amy: But I like I don't know, there's a lot of chaos going on right now. And that's you know AI is only gonna make things more chaotic for a bit, but I think that there's a lot of benefits that that can come out of it and that will come out of it. And I am fundamentally an optimist. So I think on like long-term horizon, I'm positive.
Pablo Tomasi: so yeah it's a matter of like ah people soldiering through the chaos and finding the the right to way of using AI or the right balance between AI and morality
Amy: Yeah.
Amy: Well, you know, I think it's actually, i think it's actually more fundamental than that. Let's, you know, we're, we're, we're having a philosophy session after all. um I believe, I believe that humans are fundamentally in the balance, like more good than bad.
Pablo Tomasi: oh
Amy: And so I think that, you know, things are going to like end up more good than bad. And that's, you know, I think that's part of being an optimist, but it is like, you know, the, the,
Pablo Tomasi: Yeah.
Amy: like at the end of the day technology evolves how human society makes it evolve and I'm not really a believer that we're gonna have this like AGI that's gonna like reset all of the other AIs or turn the entire world into paperclips or whatever it is but um so I don't I don't actually like I'm I'm not a believer that we're on the cusp of AGI and
Pablo Tomasi: so So you're not a believer in the Skynet type of scenario?
Amy: No, no. And I think that, like, I don't believe yet that the the technology is going to run us.
Pablo Tomasi: Okay.
Amy: I think that humans will remain fundamentally more powerful, the actors, than the technology. And that humans are fundamentally more good than bad. so that's where my optimism comes from.
Pablo Tomasi: Yeah.
Amy: Okay.
Pablo Tomasi: Yeah, i mean yeah that's that's a good philosophical question. that Definitely I have a slightly more pessimistic view of the duality.
Amy: And yet you do it with a smile, Pablo. Yeah.
Pablo Tomasi: Because it's yeah you don't want to be like too negative, at least I don't want to be too negative in my assessment of the, oh how how should I say nicely, the weakness morality of mankind or whatever.
Amy: Yeah.
Amy: Yeah.
Pablo Tomasi: But no, I see, I see, like I want to be, I'm a little bit like, you know, X-Fies. I want to believe. I want to believe in the goodness of people and like the the the ability then to use different set of technologies to effectively bring a higher set of benefits to society.
Amy: Yeah.
Amy: Yeah.
Pablo Tomasi: So that's sort of, yeah, we can we can agree on that. i'm I'm forcing myself a little bit to to say this, but sometimes I need to kind of get out of my comfort zone and like,
Amy: Saying it out loud is half the battle.
Pablo Tomasi: yeah, then believing in it is something else.
Amy: Exactly. If you say it enough times, you might end up believing it.
Pablo Tomasi: Yeah, yeah um I'm going to end up definitely believe like every morning I'm going to think about, OK, humanity is good. And then we'll we'll see you next time that we catch up.
Amy: You say your mantras.
Pablo Tomasi: yeah We can see how that is working. um Now, um again, back to MWC. So of all the companies, is there any company that for you stood out in terms of what they're doing, their their vision or how are they doing it?
Amy: I think on this piece, this AI piece that I brought up, for me, the The operator that I love their approach is Orange.
Amy: I think, you know, had the great pleasure of joining an analyst round table with their chief AI officer, Steve Jarrett. And
Amy: they've managed to build this live intelligence platform over the course of three years. And just, you know, hearing how Orange talks, they're very clear on how they want to use the technology, how they've built things out, how they've structured their team in order to make good use of AI in their organization and and with and with customers. And so I think that they're, i think they've done a great job so far and one when to follow. And like, I think an example that is like
Amy: useful for the broader industry because it's great to point to an SK Telecom, but let's be honest, no other telcos, except the East Asians, are going to be producing semiconductors.
Amy: You know, like it's just, it's a it's um it's a more, it feels more replicatable to the wider industry.
Pablo Tomasi: Yes. yeah
Amy: And so I think that is a nice example for that reason too.
Pablo Tomasi: Yeah, I would agree with you. like First of all, like on Orange, they you know when we're talking about sort of the Soto morality angle, I think that is something that at least they they try to transmit quite a lot in there in their strategies, in what they want to do.
Amy: Yeah.
Pablo Tomasi: Soto, they really double down on that, at least Soto has a messaging point of view.
Amy: Yeah.
Pablo Tomasi: And then, yeah, I mean, not many people can go down and replicate what an SK is doing.
Amy: Yeah.
Pablo Tomasi: Probably maybe a couple of companies.
Amy: No.
Pablo Tomasi: is like It's kind of hardcore stuff.
Amy: Yeah.
Pablo Tomasi: like
Amy: And also that most telcos just don't want to do that. Let's be honest, they don't want to do that. So it's not a good example.
Pablo Tomasi: and and and I think they shouldn't because they won't have the capabilities or the market or the conditions to be successful so it would be kind of a and nightmare for them and speaking about nightmares then what failed to impress you at the show
Amy: Yeah.
Amy: Yeah. yeah Yeah. Yeah.
Amy: You know what I was so, so, so disappointed by There was like virtually zero demo of anything slicing related. And it's like such a shame because we have nice industry proof points from Singtel.
Amy: from T-Mobile, from Telstra, how to bring 5G standalone capabilities to market. And the operators are rolling out their 5G standalone networks, but there was just like really very little in that domain.
Amy: And I feel like that's, I just hope it's coming later in the year. I think there've been a couple of announcements since MWC, but... I just really wish that operators would excel more in their core capabilities.
Pablo Tomasi: so So they're not... it's So is it because slicing or connectivity is not sexy enough? Do you think that could be part of the reason or they don't see enough money
Amy: think i don't I don't think that's it. I think it's that
Amy: you're selling something different. You have to think differently about how you sell something, right? You sell, like you're using, you're used to selling like a ah mobile subscription,
Amy: um with a handset and that's like 85% of your business or maybe you're used to selling some enterprise solutions as well and in some pockets and some domains but still a large part of your enterprise business is still connectivity solutions and that's that's different to that's different to like selling an outcome to you know, a first responder customer selling an outcome, what you have to think differently.
Pablo Tomasi: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Amy: and And, you know, Telstra is really good at this about thinking like, what what are we going to sell? We're going to sell as products. We'll sell latency, location, bandwidth, et cetera, et cetera.
Amy: and we have to sell those products. We're not selling just a connectivity. But that's like a, it's like a whole, you have you have whole sales organizations and businesses that are used to selling one thing.
Amy: And to make money out of out of a more flexible and programmable network, you have to sell something different.
Pablo Tomasi: Mm-hmm.
Amy: And I think that that is like really challenging for operators to like begin turning the ship in a different direction.
Pablo Tomasi: I think, yeah, did that makes sense. It'll be like a you know a big cargo ship. you know When you want to turn it, it does take a little bit of time. You don't probably have that that agility too to switch and change things, change course towards greener fields.
Amy: Yeah.
Amy: Exactly. Yeah.
Pablo Tomasi: But it'd be interesting that that was something that did not did not impress. I mean, for me, when I'm thinking, I went there sort of with with my other hat. One day, I wonder if I would go to an event actually as a as a podcaster.
Amy: Yeah.
Pablo Tomasi: I wonder what what that would be like, more journalist-like maybe? have no idea. well
Amy: I don't know. Maybe you just like get to spend your time filming the pretend robots lightsabering with the real robots or something.
Pablo Tomasi: Probably we spend a lot of time, that you know, just ah that that sort of like ah deep, you know, analytical type of videos. That is part of it.
Pablo Tomasi: um But I think for for me, it ah what I seen then obviously that probably failed a little bit to me is the, ah kind it's it's kind of absurd, but it's the lack of concrete steps that I would probably say the industry's
Amy: What kind of concrete steps?
Pablo Tomasi: um Money.
Amy: Okay, like like and like investing in something.
Pablo Tomasi: No, like making making money.
Amy: Oh, making money.
Pablo Tomasi: it Yeah.
Amy: Oh, making money.
Pablo Tomasi: That would probably be like you and and I know not necessarily the place where you want to show that, right? Because that's more about, okay, this is the technology solution.
Amy: Hmm.
Pablo Tomasi: This is the vision that we have. But i always think like it. If I'm going there and someone is telling me, look, that's that's that's a big chunk of you know dollars that I made with that solution, for me, it would attract me more than someone showing me robots fighting each other.
Amy: Yeah.
Amy: Yeah.
Pablo Tomasi: Because I would think like, oh, that's actually, you know,
Amy: I mean,
Amy: there was a little bit of that. There was a little bit of that. I was at a Singtel Digital InfraCo event on the Sunday, and they were very much like, cha-ching, we're making loads of money.
Amy: wants to buy our platform and deploy it in another country?
Pablo Tomasi: Okay, and that's the Paragon platform, I imagine.
Amy: so not No, not just Paragon, like their whole InfraCo, they have like a data center business um and they have their systems integrator, NCS.
Pablo Tomasi: Okay.
Amy: They've got Paragon for the connectivity and compute orchestration.
Pablo Tomasi: Mm-hmm.
Amy: And they've got like a REAI platform thing that runs across the board. And so it's like a whole like AI solutions, digital infrastructure business.
Amy: So that as a whole is like Paragon is a part of it.
Pablo Tomasi: Okay, nice, nice. I'm gonna sort of check check some some news about that. it's It's good to see because at the end of the day, yeah it's kind of lacks imagination in a sense, but it's good to see that because at the end that is gonna sort of foster further R&D and further solutions and anything.
Amy: Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course.
Pablo Tomasi: And I had a point on my notes on asking anything about AI, but I think we have, you know, covered that quite extensively unless there is like any additional... agentic AI versus physical AI, which one is more important?
Amy: Well, now, agentic. Because, like, physical AI, um,
Pablo Tomasi: You really don't like robots, do you? mean...
Amy: No, it's just that it doesn't really like exist yet. And i like i mean I haven't thought about it enough to debate like
Amy: to debate like which one is more valuable ultimately. And I think there is a strong argument that physical AI is more valuable over the long term, which is what you know a lot of people are saying.
Pablo Tomasi: Mm-hmm.
Amy: But we're just not there yet. right That's the whole reason why Yann LeCun is... like left and set up his own business is to train the models for physical AI, but it's going to take a long time to train those models.
Amy: And you can see like in a country like China, where you can put the gloves on to people's hands in a factory and you can have millions of people with the gloves on and doing all the different things. And you have that labor and that like top down, um,
Amy: organization to train those models.
Pablo Tomasi: Mm-hmm.
Amy: Okay, yes, we'll have models to to train physical AI, and you can see it already in the robots that they have in China, but it's going to take a really long time for them to come to life.
Amy: Like, just look look how that long it's taken to get autonomous vehicles on the road, and they still don't know how to navigate a crosswalk, which is apparently one of the biggest barriers to them being deployed in a place like London is, because that's so, like, dependent on eye contact between the drivers, and it's like a it's like a little dance and the autonomous robot car vehicles don't know how to do the dance so just see how long it's taken us to do that so I don't think that physical AI is like is like coming tomorrow we have our hands full with agentic in digital systems so not that you shouldn't dream and it's great to see it's great to see some of the some of the players dreaming about this future but do I realistically believe it's happening in five years no
Pablo Tomasi: quick Who stops?
Pablo Tomasi: Mm-hmm.
Pablo Tomasi: Okay. to to To be fair, I'm not big on on AI myself, so yeah I take the word for it. But I do, I mean, when I'm when i'm hearing your your timelines, it does seem, that's sort of what I would imagine. It's like, especially when you talk about robots, you can't imagine less than five years.
Amy: Yeah, yeah.
Pablo Tomasi: And in my mind, I imagine robots way more sophisticated than the robot arm or whatever it is, but that's,
Amy: Yeah, yeah. I mean, but don't lie, Pablo, if there was a robot that was going to bring here Deliveroo from the from the entrance over to you and just like bring it to your coffee to you now or whatever it was to you now in the middle of your podcast and you would take it right that might be in within five years yeah
Pablo Tomasi: it Yeah, kind kind of a house robot.
Amy: or yeah I mean I'm in my office so maybe it would come to my office I'm not sure how it would do with the stairs in the middle but
Pablo Tomasi: I would feel strange having like a house robot to be honest. Well, possibly because my my flat is very tiny. So it would take too much space. And then it would be just a little bit kind of an awkward living situation in a sense. It's like there is someone else. And I already have two cats as well.
Pablo Tomasi: So like i would I would have to ask them what they think about a robot.
Amy: Okay, yeah.
Amy: It's better to train them to carry the coffee tray.
Pablo Tomasi: yeah Yeah, or the robot would carry stuff for the cats. That's more likely the the scenario.
Amy: All right, okay. you can
Pablo Tomasi: But, ah okay, we we have covered robots as well that was not on the agenda, which is really, really good because ah you probably, I don't know if you know if you're following, but I'm trying to bring this podcast more into the sci-fi territory.
Amy: All right, okay.
Pablo Tomasi: um But your reaction, I see that you're not really following, but... ah
Amy: No, and i mean, I have not followed closely, I'll be y'a'll be honest, but I did hear your introduction, of course, where you did mention sci-fi.
Pablo Tomasi: Yeah, okay. That's a good save, definitely. But let let's let's now cover the second part of the episode. So we we have sort of discussed a little bit and MWC, what was there and not. and But you you were also there like speaking and moderating and and doing a bunch of of stuff. So first of all, how how did it go? How was that experience? And then again, if how important you think that is for like...
Pablo Tomasi: analyst life.
Amy: ah Yeah, it was good. I enjoyed it. um I think some people find it like really super nerve wracking to moderate a panel or join a panel. um I really enjoy it. I think it's an environment that I personally thrive in. So, you know, hence why also said yes to join you on your podcast.
Amy: um
Pablo Tomasi: Am I at the same level as an MWC speaking gig? Is that how...
Amy: Don't put yourself down, Pablo.
Pablo Tomasi: Yes, that's optimism there, absolutely.
Amy: oh
Amy: um But yeah, you know, I think it's really important because and
Amy: from a from a personal standpoint, when you're on these panels, so whether you're moderating or you're participating as a speaker, it forces you to really think like, what is the point I want to get across?
Amy: What do I actually believe in? What is the point worth making? And I think that it forces you to crystallize your thoughts a little bit the same way when you're actually like, you know, putting your research on paper or, you know, making a presentation or whatever it is.
Amy: And I think that that focusing of the mind is good for like thinking about whatever topic you're meant to opine on
Pablo Tomasi: Mm-hmm.
Amy: um It's also great for meeting people, well especially at and MWC, the kind of people who So on panels are pretty high profile people. So um you get to speak to them and meet with them and hear what they're thinking and you know maybe open an openum opportunity to get to speak to them again in the future.
Amy: um that is That is a great opportunity. So it's it's always it's it's always nice.
Pablo Tomasi: Thank you.
Amy: I think that our value as analysts, a lot of it comes from what we're able to learn from the experiences of those who are trying to implement the strategies and the technologies that we are writing about.
Amy: and and so you need to learn from them. And it's a great opportunity to build the relationships to do that or to do that live while you're on the panel.
Pablo Tomasi: So would you say that sort of if you're like a junior analyst or like someone that wants to get into this line of business, would you say this is sort of essential at a certain part of the development progress?
Pablo Tomasi: the Development but progress doesn't sound right, but I guess you know what I mean.
Amy: Yeah, well,
Amy: I think that, look, look
Amy: different companies have have different things that they that they look for in their analysts, but I think that certainly it has benefited me a lot in my career and I definitely encourage the analysts on my team to do it and to put themselves out there and you know, I think that we all have to step outside of our comfort zone sometimes.
Amy: And I think that for a lot of analysts, it is outside the comfort zone and that's why they don't want to do it.
Pablo Tomasi: yeah
Amy: But to like, fine, like you you might find it uncomfortable. You might find you could have done a better job of it, but you you will you will take that lesson and and do a better job of it next time. and Like, yeah, long story short, I do think it is important.
Pablo Tomasi: and and do you have a preference like personally moderating or speaking
Amy: No, I think they're both good.
Pablo Tomasi: equal equal doesn't it does not like you sort of a preference in terms of because I remember when I first started that i prefer moderating because i i found it easier in a sense
Amy: think they're...
Pablo Tomasi: you you are less exposed if you want from a content perspective or like how how much knowledge you have right because you're kind of orchestrating that but then later on I found out that if I'm presenting I have more freedom in saying whatever I want because no one else is there to stop me in a sense
Amy: Hmm.
Amy: Hmm.
Pablo Tomasi: So you have just 20 minutes and I can make my but whatever message I want to convey in in in whatever way i I want to sort of.
Pablo Tomasi: If I wanted to be funny, I could be funny, right?
Amy: yeah
Pablo Tomasi: If I want to be, don't know, more whatever, obscure references, which I think probably that's the case, that's the way that I can do it.
Amy: You don't think you can do that when you're moderating?
Pablo Tomasi: I would say less because you you your your job is is not to show off in a sense, it's to enable your panelists, I think, to express themselves as best as they can.
Amy: plus
Pablo Tomasi: You can bring some of your own point of view, but people are there for the for the panelists, I think.
Amy: Yeah, you are there for the panelists, but also you're there for the audience. And I think that it's important as a moderator to push your panelists a little bit, right?
Pablo Tomasi: Hmm.
Amy: And you can push them in the direction that you think is important and in the direction that you think that the industry may not be addressing enough. And you know how it is that you say, you' like, well, you moderate this this panel and you're given a subject and you're given some bullets. And at the end of the day, you're moderating. You could ask whatever you want.
Amy: And I think depending on how you do it and you prep the panel for it, then if you if you're a little bit more, if you have a strong view as an analyst and you want to hear like industry representative engage with that in a serious fashion, then being a a moderator is is a good way to do it, providing that you have a panel who can take it
Pablo Tomasi: Yeah, I think that that's probably the the key element there, right? You need to have people who want to play ball with you and that if you're like pushing or challenging in a certain way, they don't get defensive, but they're actually embracing that and like, you know, kind of giving back to you.
Amy: yeah
Amy: Yeah.
Amy: Yeah. Yeah.
Pablo Tomasi: like because because And that depends. some Some speakers may be a little bit... afraid in a sense if you're like a little bit too if you provide too much constructive criticism let's
Amy: But I think the overall, the industry has become like a lot better at admitting areas of fault and trying to take those on seriously.
Pablo Tomasi: okay okay that's sort of the industry maturing then you know
Amy: Like, I think it's better than it was five years ago.
Pablo Tomasi: it No, because in my mind it it it sounded a little bit depressing. It's like, yes, you know, we failed. But, you know, we know that we failed and then next thing that we failed again. But no, that is just me. the Positivity needs to kind of...
Amy: There are some people who fail and then succeed afterwards, Pablo, you know?
Pablo Tomasi: i
Pablo Tomasi: Yeah, that's a beautiful story. I'm sure I'm gonna find some people that that did that. But last question then related to this, um what recommendation would you give to someone wanting to be an analyst?
Amy: to force yourself to really, really, really rock your brain. Like, I remember when I was, I first joined STL and I came from, you know, this like,
Amy: research firm where we were like tracking ARPU data and subscriber data. It was like so superficial in terms of visibility. And then i came to STL and, you know, writing deeper research.
Amy: And it was like, my boss kept saying, we need to write on blockchain and telecoms. We need to write on blockchain and telecoms. was me and two other analysts and nobody was putting their hands up. And eventually I was like, fine, I'll write your blockchain in telecoms paper for you. I was like, I'm taking the hard one. And I just remember like, just like this technology is so complicated to explain in plain English. And like, what is it for? And I don't understand the inner workings of telecoms. And like, but you, put by forcing yourself through racking with those difficult, with those difficult topics and trying to like answer a question that somebody hasn't answered before. Like, yeah, there's loads of things that got wrong in that report, but
Amy: I also like got better got got like more resilient as an analyst and more comfortable taking on different difficult topics. And I think that that is... like and it's like it's it's It's hard. I remember at points thinking, like I really wish I had a job that was like less thinky and more doey
Amy: And I have a much more doey job now and I do wish I had more time for thinking. So these things and as ebb and flow. But as an analyst, I think that pushing yourself to your analytical boundaries is a good practice.
Pablo Tomasi: Okay, so you you need to kind of, i don't want to say suffer, but like work hard.
Amy: Work hard. Yeah, I think that applies any job.
Pablo Tomasi: Yeah.
Pablo Tomasi: Yeah, and unfortunately, yes, that's what I'm finding with this podcast. I'm trying to swing it past, but like there are like a lot of like small things that you are actually you need to actually put some some more effort into that.
Amy: Yeah. Yeah. yeah
Pablo Tomasi: And and I would imagine, yeah, like ah I agree that that's a good recommendation for like a junior analyst. I don't even know if junior analysts are listening to this, but who knows, maybe they could.
Pablo Tomasi: ah for For them to, yeah, you're going to have to, you know, work hard on understanding complex technologies or complex markets and yeah, go through the other side of the tunnel in a sense.
Pablo Tomasi: Now, okay, so think we can probably like wrap this up here. We had like, i we covered like a lot of stuff. So that was like an absolute pleasure for having you, Amy
Amy: We can always have a V2 if people really want to know more about my philosophical ramblings on being an analyst in
Pablo Tomasi: who Who knows, maybe maybe you know people will will you know demand to to hear more about your philosophical take on life. But for now, ah Amy, thank you very much for your time. Really appreciate. And for everyone listening, have a great day. And yeah, feel free to drop a comment or let us know what you think about this episode.
Amy: Thanks for having me, Pablo. Bye-bye.
Pablo Tomasi: Bye bye.
