Linda Hardesty

Perhaps it’s a sign of the times in the fiber industry, which has taken a big blow because of revisions to the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, but the Fiber Broadband Association’s latest webinar focused on the opportunities that fiber players have to connect Artificial Intelligence data centers. Speaking on the FBA webinar, Michael Render, CEO of RVA Market Research and Consulting, said everyone has heard about the major challenges to building new AI data centers, including the procurement of land, energy, water and semiconductors.

The 1996 presidential campaign for Bill Clinton used the mantra “It’s the economy, stupid” to keep the campaign focused. In the case of telecom, and not to be disrespectful to our readers, you could say "It's the legacy infrastructure, stupid." A big focus for operators right now is to clean up their technical debt so they can pounce on the opportunities in AI. Joe Cumello, SVP and general manager of Ciena’s Blue Planet, stressed the importance for service providers to clean up their inventory systems in preparation for agentic AI.

Despite dark money campaigns fighting a community network in Bountiful, Utah, the project has now been successfully completed by Utopia Fiber, and customers are signing up. Roger Timmerman, executive director of Utopia Fiber, said, “We have completed the Bountiful City fiber project and built out the entire city with an open access network.

At Fiber Connect in Nashville (TN), a panel of experts discussed the challenges of delivering broadband to the absolute hardest places in America using ferries, planes, and crossing international borders. One example came from panelist Donna Hilty, COO at Whidbey Telecom, which is in the Northwest corner of the state of Washington. The company’s footprint covers several islands.

You’ve probably heard of smart cities, where a lot of public infrastructure, such as traffic lights, is connected to the internet. But have you heard of smart towns? A few small broadband providers have banded together in a Smart Town Alliance to bring a form of community Wi-Fi to their rural communities, and they’re hoping to create a trend where many small broadband providers join their initiative.

It looks like Starlink is striving to gain market share for its home broadband offering, both across the U.S. and globally. On April 28, Starlink announced in a post on X that it is offering its broadband equipment for free when customers sign up for a 12-month residential plan. Normally, the startup cost would be $349, so this is a significant contribution from the company. Customers who receive the free equipment must commit to a 1-year plan, and they can choose from one of two residential options.

I’m sensing a trend within telecommunications: Operators are on a mission to clean up their company records. They’ve been limping along for years—even decades—keeping track of their business records in multiple antiquated systems. Many of them have an even bigger mess because they’ve acquired smaller companies over the years, and those companies came with different antiquated record-keeping systems, which were never fully integrated into the larger company. This is probably for a few reasons.

It looks like Elon Musk’s Starlink service is going to get a big boost from the U.S. government. States will be able to award more Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program funds to satellite-internet providers like Starlink, as well as to more fixed wireless access (FWA) providers, rather than mainly to companies that lay fiber-optic cables. Personally, I think it will be a shame to squander this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reach as many homes as possible with fiber via the $42.5 billion in BEAD funds.

The broadband construction firm Trueline Infrastructure Solutions was supposed to bring competition to the market, but instead the company has gone out of business. Trueline sent an email to its approximately 300 employees, terminating their employment immediately. The email said, “As many of you are aware, Trueline has been facing unprecedented changes in the market, compounded by increasing competitive pressures.

The Pew Charitable Trusts is recommending that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration make public all past waivers issued regarding the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.