Advertise on podcast: Broadband Pulse

With an array of broadband competitors in the marketplace, it’s clear the shift is going towards providing customers with a solid quality of experience (QoE). Service providers are also shifting their build-out focus. While gaining subscriber density by passing more homes with fiber and coax has always been a key focus for broadband providers, there’s a growing emphasis on homes served. One company taking on these challenges is Harmonic. In recent years, Harmonic has pivoted to becoming a broadband-focused company. Harmonic recently released a few key products to help broadband providers deliver broadband more efficiently: the Jetty hardened outdoor switch, the compact Oyster+ PON platform, SeaStar Optical Node, and its cOS SensAI vendor-agnostic software platform. At the recent TechExpo26 trade show in Atlanta, Ga, we caught up with Hy Huynh, vice president of fiber products at Harmonic, to discuss the evolving fiber broadband landscape. Key Moments in This Episode Opening/Intro | 0:05 Near-term network and competitive concerns | 0:54 Successful broadband providers need to differentiate by providing a solid quality of experience. Building smarter, more capable infrastructure | 3:52 How broadband providers are leveraging various technologies that shift their focus from homes passed to homes served. Balancing between expansion and financial discipline | 8:23 How to accommodate various fiber network build-out strategies—edge-outs, rural areas, and high-density markets. Harmonic’s Jetty | 13:08 How this product, which is a hardened outdoor remote switch that’s designed to expand fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), is resonating with its customer base. Underappreciated fiber expansion opportunities | 14:58 Harmonic has answered the call with its Oyster+, a compact, cabinet-free, backup-powered PON fiber node designed to scale broadband edge deployments in rural and low-density areas. Multi-dwelling unit (MDU) broadband opportunities | 19:43 Harmonic is taking on the Brownfield MDU market challenge with its SeaStar Optical Node, which allows service providers to leverage existing in-building coax wiring to deliver high-speed broadband services. AI’s role in broadband | 23:41 With its cOS SensAI, Harmonic is offering a vendor-agnostic, software-driven intelligence fabric designed to unify data across broadband networks. Final thoughts/closing | 28:35 Hy Huynh shares his final thoughts and closes out the podcast. Meet Our Guest Hy Huynh is the Vice President, Fiber Products at Harmonic. He has 15 years of customer-facing experience spanning sales, product management, program management, product support/operations, and some development. On his LinkedIn page, he describes himself as a nerd with an engineering degree and an affinity for understanding and engaging with customers. He says he is passionate about technology and a staunch advocate for the customer and end-user experience. About the Podcast  In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and listen here.

The Cable Tech Expo, being held this week in Atlanta, will highlight the importance of not just technology, but also how discussions can drive growth for both large and regional cable operators. Ahead of this year’s show, Broadband Pulse spoke with Janelle Morse, SCTE’s VP, Engagement and Strategy, about her expectations for the event. During our conversation, we addressed a range of issues, including convergence, AI’s role, fiber, and cross-industry collaboration around network resilience and security. Timeline of the episode: Intro/opening | 0:03 Industry shifts shaping the conversation at Tech Expo | 0:18 Morse addresses how this year’s event addresses the growing convergence trend in the cable industry. AI’s growing influence | 1:56 How AI is influencing and enabling cable operators to perform key functions, including network diagnostics, anomaly detection and predictive service assurance. What’s new about Tech Expo 26 | 3:37 SCTE’s new Stream Tech track, which will be co-hosted by AMC, will show how to build infrastructure required to deliver premium experiences to consumers. The role of fiber in cable networks | 5:12 The show’s program will cover the continued evolution of PON, next-generation optical access, and how fiber works alongside other access technologies in a converged network. Network security and resilience | 6:20 Members of STRIKE (Strategic Threat Response and Infrastructure Knowledge Exchange) will present information, identify patterns, establish best practices, and strengthen how to prevent and respond to network theft and vandalism incidents. Telcos and wireless operators’ complementary STRIKE role | 8:01 Joining Comcast and Spectrum in the network resiliency program is T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, which shows that the full broadband ecosystem is coming together. Final thoughts/closing | 8:45 Morse notes how SCTE bridges the gap between technology and operational readiness through its standards, education, and continued industry collaboration beyond each year’s event. Meet our guest: Janelle Morse, VP of engagement and strategy, SCTE As SCTE’s Vice President of Engagement and Strategy, Janelle Morse leads strategy and engagement initiatives across the SCTE membership community and drives global participation for TechExpo, North America’s premier broadband technology event. Before joining SCTE in 2023, she served as VP of Research, Events & Media at TM Forum, where she led initiatives to showcase the Forum and industry achievements across multiple platforms, fostering opportunities for learning, collaboration, exploration, and connection. In 2020, she successfully led her team through the rapid transformation of TM Forum’s flagship event, Digital Transformation World, into a completely virtual 6-week magazine-style event. About the Podcast  In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and listen here.

Astound, like other broadband players, is undergoing a transition. The service provider is merging with GFiber to create a larger independent broadband provider, at a time when the fiber broadband segment is consolidating to meet new scale. Astound itself has been a story of consolidation. In 2018, TPG Capital acquired Wave Broadband. Wave was then combined with RCN Corporation and Grande Communications, both of which were acquired in February 2017, in a $2.25 billion deal; TPG bought RCN for $1.6 billion and Grande for $650 million. GFiber will leverage Astound’s extensive experience in building large-scale fiber networks and community partnerships. The combined company, which aims to expand fiber infrastructure into new markets across California, Colorado, and Iowa, will create a larger platform to serve over 1 million customers across multiple U.S. markets. Astound named telecom veteran Ettienne Brandt as CEO in March. He will focus on expanding Astound's fiber footprint, integrating GFiber assets, and developing converged wireline and wireless services to stay competitive. In this podcast, we spoke with Brandt about his plans to implement new company-wide best practices to improve customer experience while maintaining its local feel. Here’s a timeline of the episode Opening/Introduction | 0:03 Taking on Astound’s CEO role | 1:03 Brandt talks about his first few months on the job. Highlighting initial priorities | 2:17 As the cable industry faces customer retention challenges, Brandt launched an internal program called the Astound Way to drive company-wide best practices while maintaining a local feel. Competitive environment | 4:17 Brandt highlights how Astound is charting a growth path by improving customer experience, making it as easy to deal with us as it is to deal with fixed wireless access (FWA) providers. Astound’s residential service opportunity | 6:18 How the service provider is enhancing the residential experience with a three-pronged approach: providing instant-on broadband activation for multi-dwelling units (MDUs), distribution and broadband pricing options. MDU broadband approach | 9:10 Astound tailors its MDU broadband strategy to each market and opportunity. Focus on easing the experience | 10:25 How customers can get access to service and solve issues quickly. Business and wholesale services evolution | 11:10 Astound is not only growing business services revenue, but it is also growing wholesale services to data centers. Data center opportunities | 12:23 How the service provider is positioning itself to serve data centers that reside near or within its network footprint. Setting priorities | 12:54 After meeting with management leaders at Astound, Brandt is working to realign its purpose, create strategy pillars, and gain clarity. Wireless and bundling factor | 18:19 How service providers with multiple products can create customer stickiness. Final thoughts/closing | 19:55 Meet our guest Ettienne Brandt was named CEO of Astound in March. Brandt leads Astound as it continues to execute its network expansion and prepares for a planned merger with GFiber (formerly Google Fiber), following an agreement announced in mid-March to combine the two companies and create one of the largest independent fiber-based broadband providers in the country. Brandt has more than 25 years of experience in the telecommunications industry across multiple scaled wireless and broadband platforms. He most recently served as Executive Vice President, Commercial at Frontier Communications, where he was a key senior executive in the company’s successful transformation, ultimately leading to Frontier’s $20 billion sale to Verizon. Before Frontier, Brandt worked for various telecommunications providers, including British Telecom, EE, Orange, and ntl (now Virgin Media), and has vast experience in the Consumer and Commercial segments within wireless and wireline. About the Podcast  In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com.

FiberLight is hot on the trail of the AI data center trend. The service provider’s roots trace back to the early 1990s, when its predecessor companies ACSI, ACSI NT, and Xspedius Fiber Group (XFG) built high-bandwidth networks for telecom carriers, ISPs, and utility operators within state and local rights-of-way across the United States. As the product of those companies, FiberLight now has 20,000 route miles in some of the most densely populated metroplexes, fast-growth tech hubs, and underserved rural areas. One of FiberLight’s key markets is West Texas. Earlier this year, FiberLight dedicated a $350 million capital investment to build about 1,400 route miles of new network infrastructure across West Texas. This investment is in addition to the company’s previously announced $150 million West Texas initiative, bringing FiberLight’s total regional commitment to nearly half a billion dollars. Outside of Texas, FiberLight is making aggressive moves in other markets, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Tampa, and Washington, DC. In this Broadband Pulse podcast interview, we caught up with Bill Major, CEO of FiberLight, a competitive service provider expanding its fiber footprint to support growing businesses and data center providers scaling to meet AI needs. Here’s a timeline of the episode: Opening/Introduction | 0:03 FiberLight’s fiber service approach to data centers | 0:40 How FiberLight is working to enhance its fiber networks in areas like West Texas to address the insatiable demand for bandwidth to support AI. Dark and lit fiber service options | 1:25 FiberLight is seeing its data center customers request a host of connectivity platforms, including optical wavelengths and dedicated large cables. Near-net opportunities | 2:27 With one of the largest statewide networks in Texas, it may have diverse lateral fiber connections into new data centers, but then tie them back to existing fiber assets. Fiber market expansion | 3:16 Beyond Texas, FiberLight is expanding in other states, including Louisiana and Oklahoma. Data center market dynamics | 4:23 A key element for data center providers is access to the power grid; if they can’t get it, they need to look at behind-the-meter alternatives like Stargate in West Texas has done. Data center build controversy | 6:00 How the data center industry needs to educate consumers and others better that they won’t be harmful, and how the utility of AI is similar to how the cell phone is used today.  AI infrastructure demand | 8:03 As people become more comfortable with AI's value, Major says they'll see the evolution. Power availability | 10:05 How the data center initiative is not just a technology issue, but a geopolitical issue. The Western Pennsylvania market | 11:23 Parts of Western Pennsylvania have become attractive because of their power supply options.   Alternative energy sources | 12:29 As growing data center electricity loads outstrip demand, alternative energy sources will become a bigger priority. Fiber installation methods | 13:46 Given the challenges of trenching fiber, there's no easy button to install fiber in the markets FiberLight serves. Final thoughts/closing | 15:17 Bill Major provides his final thoughts on FiberLight’s fiber network build strategy.  Meet our guest Bill Major, CEO of FiberLight Major is a seasoned telecommunications executive with more than 20 years of experience leading teams across sales, operations, and process improvement, and a track record of delivering strong operating performance and financial results. Most recently, he served as CEO and President of Everstream Solutions, where he oversaw execution of Everstream’s strategy as the premier enterprise and wholesale fiber platform in the Midwest of the United States. He was also responsible for overseeing the sales, operations, legal, enterprise technology & IT and human resources executive leadership teams. Bill first joined Everstream in 2015 as Vice President of Sales & Marketing and was promoted to Chief Revenue Officer in 2019 and President in 2021. Before that, Bill held sales and operations leadership roles with Fibertech Networks (acquired by Lightower and Crown Castle) and McLeodUSA (acquired by PAETEC and ultimately Windstream). About the Podcast  In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com.

Lightcurve’s evolution as a fiber broadband provider represents the can-do attitude inherent in the independent ILEC industry. Formerly known as Rainier Connect, the company was founded in 1910 and has more than 110 years of regional history. Based in Tacoma, WA, Lightcurve has served Washington for more than 110 years. It offers high-speed internet, Stream TV, voice, and other business connectivity solutions serving Tacoma, Eatonville, Centralia, Chehalis, and Graham. One of the key developments in Lightcurve’s recent history took place in 2023 when Palisade Infrastructure purchased Rainier Connect, after which it changed its name to Lightcurve. At the time, the company said changing its name to Lightcurve marked the next chapter of its journey and the beginning of significant investments in fiber internet infrastructure. In this Broadband Pulse podcast interview, we caught up with Beth Barnes, VP of Marketing and Consumer Sales for Lightcurve, to talk about the service provider’s rich history and its commitment to being a local fiber service provider for the consumers and businesses it serves.  Here’s a timeline of the episode: Opening/Introduction | 0:03 Lightcurve’s fiber broadband evolution | 0:23 Barnes talks about how Lightcurve, formerly Rainier Connect, transitioned from a traditional independent ILEC founded in 1910 that served the Pacific Northwest to a fiber broadband provider. The pace of Lightcurve’s fiber transition | 1:50 Being an ILEC, it continues to transition its copper and HFC networks to fiber. Prioritizing fiber builds | 2:35 Lightcurve will consider various factors, including the return on investment, customer affordability, permitting, and serving new and existing communities. Community outreach | 4:32 Barnes noted it approaches not only the residents, but also the community’s leaders when they set a new service target. Lightcurve’s main 2026 highlights | 5:59 The service provider has built out about 10,000 new fiber locations in both new and existing communities in both central and western Washington. Serving up an 8 Gbps speed tier | 7:13 How offering 8 gig is a statement in the market that can do as much as, or more than, its competitors. Service targets | 8:01 Lightcurve continues to serve a mix of single-family and multi-dwelling unit (MDUs) in the market it serves. Fiber workforce | 9:21 Lightcurve manages a group of outside contractors for its fiber builds. Competitive differentiation | 10:03 With all broadband providers touting reliability, price, and speed, LightCurve focuses on its local community roots. Business services | 12:34 Barnes talks about how Lightcurve’s fiber drive is enabling it to offer a broader set of services to local business customers. Lightcurve's digital equity partnership program | 14:17 Through its public-private partnership with the City of Tacoma’s Click network, Lightcurve provides free internet to organizations that have access to or provide services to low-income or underserved members of the community. Philanthropic investments | 15:19 The impact of Lightcurve’s recently announced series of philanthropic investments to support economic growth in downtown communities in Central and Western Washington. Final thoughts/closing | 16:15 Beth Barnes shares her closing thoughts and how Lightcurve plans to continue to expand its fiber broadband presence in existing and new communities.   Meet our guest Beth Barnes joined Lightcurve as Vice President of Marketing and Consumer Sales in 2024. She came to the Lightcurve team from Alaska Communications, where she spent over a decade in various leadership roles, most recently as Vice President of Mass Markets and Marketing. Lightcurve is making significant investments in fiber broadband combined with excellence in customer service and a deep commitment to the communities it serves. Beth helps drive Lightcurve’s mission by focusing on customer engagement and experience, positioning Lightcurve as the internet provider of choice at home and at work in all the communities it serves. Beth is passionate about community involvement. She currently serves on the Boards for Junior Achievement Alaska and the Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership and was previously a member of the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation’s Investor Council. She holds an MBA in business from the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh and a BSBA in Marketing from Drake University. About the Podcast  In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com.

As a national service organization that represents America's electric cooperatives, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) has come into the telecom industry’s spotlight as a key advocate of rural broadband. Over 250 of its electric cooperatives are deploying or developing plans to deliver broadband service to their consumers. NRECA has been a key voice on broadband regulatory issues, including the FCC’s proposals to overhaul the Universal Service Fund (USF). In a recent FCC filing, NRECA said that reforms to a national program to subsidize telecommunications networks in high-cost areas must ensure that rural residents “are not relegated to second-tier broadband service.” In this interview, we spoke with Jim Matheson, CEO of NRECA, about how its electric cooperative members are leveraging existing customer relationships to help bridge the rural broadband divide. Opening/Introduction | 0:03 Overview of NRECA | 0:26 Jim Matheson, CEO of NRECA, provides an overview of the advocacy group and how more than 200 of its members provide broadband in rural areas today. Electric cooperatives’ moving into broadband | 2:28 Having delivered electricity in a near-monopoly, NRECA has emphasized to its members that broadband is a different business with different competitive and consumer expectations. The importance of rural broadband | 4:12 How broadband is an important issue across all rural America. NRECA members deploying broadband | 5:28 Matheson notes that many of its members who provide broadband services have seen great success in take rates. Navigating the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program | 6:02 How the changes to the program could affect quality of experience and building future-proofed networks, as well as the non-deployment funds. Middle mile fiber networks | 8:37 The benefits of electric cooperatives partnering to create statewide networks to serve others outside of their service territories.   Electric cooperative/Investor-owned utility partnerships | 10:14 Matheson discusses how its electric cooperative members have at times partnered with larger investor-owned utilities to share best practices and resources. Final thoughts/Closing | 11:36 How NRECA will advocate to enable its members to deliver high-quality broadband services in rural markets. Meet our guest Jim Matheson is CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), the national service organization that represents the nation’s more than 900 not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives. NRECA members provide service to 42 million people in 48 states. Jim joined NRECA in July 2016 following distinguished careers in both the public and private sectors. Before joining NRECA, Jim served as Principal, Public Policy Practice, at the international law firm Squire Patton Boggs, based in Washington, D.C. From 2001 to 2015, Jim served as a United States Representative from Utah for seven terms. During his tenure on Capitol Hill, Jim was known for working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle. He served as Chief Deputy Whip for the House Democratic Caucus and co-chairman of the Blue Dog Coalition. He served on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as the Financial Services, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Science committees. Prior to entering government service, Jim worked in the energy industry for several years. Jim was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. He received a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard University, and an MBA in Finance and Accounting from UCLA. Jim's wife, Amy, is a pediatrician, and they have two sons, William and Harris. About the Podcast  In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com.

Lightmatter, an emerging photonics provider, is centering its efforts on building a photonic infrastructure for AI at scale—interconnects, lasers, and eventually compute itself. Its interconnect product line—Passage — overcomes the limitations of traditional electrical, where bandwidth is constrained by the shoreline—the physical perimeter of the chip. Since its founding by MIT researchers in 2017, Lightmatter has raised $850 million and has gained a $4.4 billion valuation. In this latest Broadband Pulse podcast, we caught up with Nick Harris, founder and CEO of Lightmatter, about how it is helping the AI hyperscaler community find new ways to scale. Opening/Introduction | 0:03 Overview of Lightmatter | 0:23 Lightmatter’s CEO Nick Harris provides an overview of the company and its optical network platforms. Lightmatter’s interconnect platform | 1:49 Harris describes how its Passage L20, a bi-directional near-package optics (NPO) engine, can help overcome the fiber shortage, as well as its partnerships with Qualcomm and Nvidia. Addressing fiber shortages | 4:46 How Lightmatter’s platforms use half the fiber, enabling cost savings. Co-packaged Optics (CPO) and near-packaged optics (NPO) opportunities | 5:56 Lightmatter is seeing the initial ramp-up for NPO for 2027 and the end of 2028 for CPO. Lightmatter’s NVIDIA relationship | 7:08 NVIDIA will play a critical part in scaling and delivering on performance promise for AI workloads, inference, and training. The XPO (eXtra-dense Pluggable Optics) Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) | 8:25 Lightmatter talks about its motivation to join Arista and other companies to advance XPO technology. Bidirectional (BiDi) technology | 9:27 How Lightmatter’s BiDi technology will affect the data center scale-out segment. Final thoughts/Closing | 10:47 Harris provides his final thoughts about where Lightmatter sees the optical market going through the rest of 2026 and beyond. Meet our guest Nick Harris is the CEO of Lightmatter. With over 30 patents and 70 publications in journals including Nature, Nature Photonics, and Nature Physics, Nicholas’ seminal work on quantum and classical information processing with integrated photonics has helped launch the international research field of programmable photonics. Nicholas has been recognized by the MIT Technology Review through the prestigious Innovators Under 35 award (2021). The award had over 500 nominees and a panel of judges including artificial intelligence luminary Andrew Ng; previous winners include Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google founders), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook founder), and Jony Ive (Apple). He received his doctorate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and later served as a Postdoctoral Fellow through the Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Fellowship. About the Podcast  In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com.

Independent cable operators and telcos, while the backbone of rural and secondary markets, often get overlooked. But what they lack in size and reach, they make up for with a similar dedication to service and innovation. Like the Tier 1 operators, independent providers are moving fast, not only enhancing their networks with fiber to offer higher-speed broadband, but are also looking to provide standalone wireless service, converged services, and making use of AI to better the service experience. NCTC, on its website, sums up the mission of the independent operator best: “Whether that’s launching new services, managing customer expectations or elevating our offerings, we strive to meet or exceed the big guys.​” No less important are the policy and regulatory issues that all providers are facing today. Given their dedication to expanding broadband into unserved and underserved areas, a chief policy concern for ACA Connects’ members is permitting reform, which will enable its members to deploy broadband faster. ACA is also closely watching programming regulations as well as the BEAD broadband funding program. In this episode, we talked with two key cable industry veterans about emerging trends--Lou Borrelli, CEO of NCTC and Grant Spellmeyer, president and CEO of ACA Connects.  For further perspective on ACA and NCTC, you can also listen to an earlier podcast we did with Borrelli and Spellmeyer.   Here's a timeline of the interview's key moments: Opening | 0:00 Host's introduction of guests | 0:03 Independent cable operators' evolution | 0:54 Borrelli addresses how all cable operators face similar competition, supply chain and service delivery issues. The regulatory outlook | 2:21 Spellmeyer outlines how ACA Connects is helping its members overcome regulatory obstacles so they can deepen broadband in rural areas. AI’s role in broadband Borrelli discusses the NCTC’s creation of its new AI center through its partnership with Ernst & Young. | 3:16 Spellmeyer addresses how Congressional actions could affect the broadband industry and the overall economy. | 5:32 State of competition | 6:41 Borrelli cites NCTC Mobile initiative, which allows independent broadband and cable operators to launch white-labeled 4G LTE and 5G mobile services without building their own wireless networks. | 7:15 Spellmeyer cites how delays in securing permits from federal, state and local government have held up new broadband deployments as well as new rules for the BEAD program. | 10:25 Highlights of the summer 2026 Independent Show | 12:38 Borrelli talks about the show’s imagination meets innovation theme and some of the keynote speakers, including Noel Russell, FCC’s Olivia Trusty and Cable One's new CEO Jim Holanda | 13:14 Spellmeyer highlights that besides the policy and technology discussions, the value of the show is the interaction between attendees. | 17:05 Final thoughts/Closing | 20:03 Lou Borrelli, CEO of NCTC, and Grant Spellmeyer, president and CEO of ACA Connects, provide their final thoughts. Meet our guests: Lou Borelli, CEO of NCTC A 40-plus-year cable television industry veteran, Lou Borrelli was named NCTC’s CEO in 2021. Before joining NCTC, Borrelli served as the CEO of Home and Entertainment for Digicel Group, which provides mobile phone, cable, and broadband services to 27 countries in the Caribbean, Central, and South America. He was responsible for cable and broadband strategy, policy, operations, content strategy and distribution rights for Digicel's sports and entertainment networks. Having owned and operated cable systems in second and third-tier markets, Borrelli has plenty of experience in the independent cable industry segment with an extensive understanding of the challenges facing operators of all sizes in today's competitive landscape. A founding partner of Marcus Cable, Borrelli and his colleagues were recognized as Cable Operator of the Year in 1998, and he was inducted into the Cable Pioneers in 2002. Grant Spellmeyer, president and CEO of ACA Connects Grant Spellmeyer oversees the daily operations and affairs of America's Communications Association (ACA Connects). Grant joined ACAC in 2022. Before coming to ACAC, he was VP of government affairs for US Cellular, where his primary duties included directing the federal and state legislative and regulatory efforts across the company’s 21-state operating territory on all policy matters. He joined U.S. Cellular in 2006 from ACA Connects Member company TDS Telecommunications.  As part of the TDS enterprise, Grant served in a variety of wireless and wireline legal and regulatory roles for more than 20 years.  Before that, Grant was an attorney in private practice in Madison, Wisconsin.  Spellmeyer is a 1988 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition, he holds an M.A. in public policy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School.  He also has an MBA from Northwestern University.  About the Podcast  In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com.

In this latest Broadband Pulse podcast, we talked with Mo Steinman, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Lightelligence. About our guest Maurice (Mo) Steinman is Senior VP and General Manager, US at Lightelligence. Throughout his forty-year career, he has worked for various companies in the networking and computing industry, including Digital Equipment Corp., Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and AMD. He joined Lightelligence in 2018. He holds a BS in Computer and Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and is named as an inventor on over fifty US patents. About the Podcast  In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address key issues affecting the optical and broadband industries. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com/.

In this podcast, we're highlighting the upcoming Data Center Insights event.  On July 15 and 16, Lightwave will join several of its “sister” media outlets to host an online conference-style event titled Data Center Insights. Comprising 11 technical sessions, the event will be broadcast from 11:00 am to 3:30 pm EDT each day. The full agenda, available at https://endeavor.swoogo.com/DataCenterInsights2026, reflects the breadth of these outlets’ audiences and coverage areas. Sean Buckley, Editor in Chief of Lightwave will host the panel: Testing High-Density Fiber Links: Best Practices for VSFF, and 400G+ Networks on Wednesday, July 15 at 1:30 ET. Joining Lightwave on this panel will be Jim Davis, Product Application Specialist from Fluke Networks.  About the Podcast  In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address key issues affecting the optical and broadband industries. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com/.

When the FCC voted last fall to strip hotspot and school bus Wi-Fi from the E-Rate program, Mission Telecom responded swiftly – growing its network of partners and launching new services to ensure vulnerable communities were not left behind. The service provider recently reached a key milestone: it connected 20,000 families and impacted 50,000 lives. But it’s not stopping there. Through its Project: Volume Up, Mission is now providing a nationwide initiative designed to help public libraries launch or expand hotspot lending programs in their communities. Volume Up brings together hardware, nationwide 4G and 5G coverage, and nonprofit pricing into a single, ready-to-launch solution – so libraries can quickly get hotspot programs up and running. Partnerships are a big focus. Mission Telecom established partnerships with nonprofits, including CACRC, to close the digital divide by providing affordable computers to Louisiana families who need them most, and it launched the RESPOND Kit – a portable hotspot and broadband solution designed to keep communities connected before, during, and after natural disasters. In this new Broadband Pulse podcast, we talked with Mark Colwell, director of broadband operations at Mission Telecom, about how its new offering will make schools' and libraries' budgets whole after the E-Rate cuts. Here's a timeline of the interview's key moments: Opening | 0:00 Host's introduction of guests | 0:03 Mission’s progress | 0:21 The service provider recently reached a key milestone, connecting 20,000 families and impacting 50,000 lives. Service partnerships | 1:11 Colwell discusses how Mission Telecom expanded its network of partners to help communities bridge the gap created by the FCC's decision to cut hotspot and school bus Wi-Fi from the E-Rate program. FCC's proposed childhood E-Rate service usage protections | 2:50 How Mission views the FCC’s consideration of a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on measures to protect children better when using E-Rate-funded networks. Mission Telecom’s Volume Up program | 4:52 With libraries being Mission Telecom’s fastest-growing segment, Colwell talks about how the Volume Up program helps public libraries launch or expand affordable hotspot lending programs. Belen Public Library | 6:39 How Mission Telecom’s low-cost hotspot program is giving the rural New Mexico community, where many families can’t afford home broadband. Capital Area Corporate Recycling Council (CACRC) device refurbishment | 9:12 Mission works with CACRC to provide low-cost computing devices to families in need.   Navigating the BEAD broadband program | 12:01 Colwell notes that non-deployment funds could be a good way to bring broadband to public housing facilities in urban poor communities. Mission bolsters its board of directors | 13:29 Adding new voices like Sabrina Hersi Issa, who will also serve on the board of the organization’s philanthropic arm, Mission Telecom Giving, broadens the board by bringing in people from diverse backgrounds. Final thoughts/Closing | 14:55 Mark Colwell provides his final thoughts. Meet our guest: Mark Colwell is the Interim Executive Director and the Director of Broadband Operations. Before joining Mission Telecom, Mark served as the Senior Manager of Broadband Programs for the Colorado Broadband Office, where he managed a team overseeing federal broadband grant programs, including the Capital Projects Fund (CPF) and the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. In addition, Mark was appointed by Governor Polis to serve on the Colorado Broadband Deployment Board, funding state and federal grants to connect unserved and underserved Coloradans. Colwell began his career as a Legislative Assistant in the U.S. Congress, focusing on telecommunications, spectrum, rural broadband, and IT issues. He also worked as a Senior Business Operations Analyst at DISH Network, managing projects focused on delivering world-class customer experience. Mark earned a master's degree from the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program at the University of Colorado-Boulder, graduating at the top of his class. About the Podcast  In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address key issues affecting the optical and broadband industries. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com/.

Fort Collins Connexion, a municipal broadband utility that was created by and for the community, has as its sole purpose to improve life and business in Fort Collins, Colorado through what it says is better, more affordable internet. Connexion offers affordably priced symmetrical multi-gig service with no long-term contracts. In addition to residential broadband, Connexion offers competitive phone and TV services. Also, Connexion has become a key source of broadband and enhanced services for local businesses. Joining other Colorado communities like Longmont, Montrose, Boulder and Yuma County, Connexion’s emergence is the result of a Colorado State effort to enable local governments to become broadband providers. Signed into law in 2023, Colorado’s Senate Bill 23-183 repealed the restrictive Senate Bill 05-152. Previously, the 2005 law prohibited most local governments from entering the broadband market or using municipal funds for infrastructure without a local voter referendum. SB 23-183 explicitly eliminates this requirement, allowing cities, towns, and counties to deploy advanced communication services directly. Helping to lead the service charge for Fort Collins Connexion is Josh Hales, Senior Manager of Broadband Sales. When the Broadband Pulse caught up with Hales, who has been with Connexion for four years, he said the effect is clear: incumbent cable and telcos are now responding with new broadband options. Opening/introduction | 0:03 Fort Collins’ Connexion fiber focus | 0:24 Hales talks about how Connexion’s fiber network enables it to move quickly on many of the things residents were asking for that weren’t possible on the legacy copper network. Broadband evolution | 2:52 Connexion’s gigabit-speed evolution is predicated on staying ahead of the competition and on using it for other applications, such as providing connectivity for a community center in Fort Collins. Incumbent provider’s response | 4:43 Traditional providers like AT&T and others are responding with their own fiber-based broadband offerings. Gigabit speed subscriber adoption | 7:06 By preparing its network to handle multi-gigabit speeds, Connexion noted that 33% of its newest customers are opting for them. Voice and video services | 9:29 While Connexion continues to maintain voice and video services because they ease the complexity of switching, it continues to evaluate adoption rates. Community services | 11:48 Connexion is leveraging its fiber network to provide services such as Wi-Fi in city parks and, potentially, smart traffic applications. PON technology evolution | 14:09 Connexion is leveraging 25G PON to support its downtown community center Wi-Fi deployment and local businesses that require higher bandwidth. Business services growth | 16:00 Given the competitive environment for business services, Connexion is focused not just on selling higher speeds but on reliable connectivity. Greenfield housing developments | 20:09 By working with developers during the construction phase, Connexion is helping ensure that every new single-family home or multi-dwelling unit (MDU) is built to be sold in a fiber-ready state. Final thoughts | 21:55 The Broadband Pulse gets Josh Hales' final thoughts about his work at Connexion. About our guest With over a decade of experience in sales and operations, Joshua Hales is currently serving as the Senior Manager of Broadband Sales at Fort Collins Connexion, contributing to customer acquisition and operational excellence. In previous leadership roles at Comcast and Xerox, Hales honed his expertise in sales operations, project management, and team leadership. He is passionate about driving growth through innovative strategies and collaborative approaches that align with organizational goals. A key focus of Hales is enhancing customer experiences and delivering impactful results in the broadband industry. About the Podcast  In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address key issues affecting the optical and broadband industries. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com/.

Broadcom is addressing the emergence of 50G PON and fixed wireless access (FWA) with a series of new products and partnerships aimed at helping service providers ensure users experience sound quality of service (quality of service) on their broadband and wireless connections. While still emerging, the transition to 50G PON delivers the massive network headroom and deterministic latency required for the next era of broadband. According to Market Intelo, the 50G PON market was valued at $3.2 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $18.6 billion by 2034, growing at a robust compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.6% from 2026 to 2034. However, Dell’Oro notes that as services transition from GPON to XGS-PON, the focus has shifted from 10G speeds to reducing latency. The research firm notes that this “approach is fundamentally reshaping PON roadmaps, pushing large-scale 50G PON adoption out by 3-5 years as operators instead invest in XGS-PON enhancements that deliver immediate quality improvements.”  Nevertheless, Broadcom is moving forward with its 50G plans. The silicon vendor recently debuted its 50G ITU-PON home gateway system-on-chip (SoC), featuring an integrated neural processing unit (NPU) and native Wi-Fi 8 compatibility. It also enhanced its Wi-Fi 8 portfolio with a new trio of highly integrated SoC devices. On the fixed wireless access (FWA) front, Broadcom has partnered with Samsung Electronics to develop a new, cost-optimized reference platform featuring the Samsung B1320 5G Modem and Broadcom BCM6776 Wi-Fi 8 SoC. This platform unifies 3GPP Release 17 connectivity with the emerging Wi-Fi 8 (IEEE 802.11bn) standard. In this latest podcast, we talked with Chris Szymanski, director of product marketing for the Wireless Broadband Communications for Broadcom, about its latest 50G and FWA developments. Here’s a timeline for the interview: Opening/Introduction | 0:03 50G PON market | 0:30 Broadcom’s Szymanski addresses how 50G will enable service providers to deliver a much higher level of service. 50G deployment strategies| 2:41 Broadcom expects initial rollouts to begin in the central office, then move to ONUs, and finally to the 50-gig PON Wi-Fi gateways it recently announced. Broadcom’s new BCM 68850 50G platform | 3:21 When broadband providers upgrade to a 50G PON gateway, they can reduce latency and improve the user experience at home. A path from the CO optical line terminal to the network edge | 4:48 How Broadcom’s 68850, a 50G gateway device with Edge AI compute and native Wi-Fi support, enables operators to build an intelligent 50G pipe. Pairing 50G PON with Wi-Fi 8 | 5:48 How Broadcom is eliminating the Wi-Fi and WAN bottleneck. Wi-Fi 8’s streamlined approach requirements | 8:41 By integrating chipsets, Broadcom can reduce form factor size and overall bill-of-materials costs for its partners. Consolidating silicon elements | 10:26 Broadcom’s SoCs consolidate the application processor, network processor, radios, and Ethernet PHY onto a single die. Broadcom and Samsung’s Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) partnership | 11:40 The design is ideal for gateways that use the 5G modem as a wireless backup for fixed broadband. Unifying 3GPP’s Release 17 connectivity and the Wi-Fi 8 standard |12:43 Ensuring 5G speeds and reliability are handed off to smart home devices. Final thoughts/closing |13:37 About our guest Chris Szymanski, director of product marketing for the Wireless Broadband Communications for Broadcom Christopher Szymanski is Director of Product Marketing for Broadcom Inc.’s Mobile Connectivity Division, with a focus on technology strategy, spectrum policy, regulatory affairs, and standards development. Mr. Szymanski serves as Director on the Wi-Fi Alliance Board and the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance Board. Before taking on this role, Mr. Szymanski served as Global Trade Compliance Officer, Director of Global Regulatory Affairs, and Secretary of the Political Activity Committee (PAC) for Broadcom Corporation. Before joining Broadcom, Szymanski lived in China for over four years, serving in a compliance and government relations role for a semiconductor foundry. For the last three of those years in China, he also served as co-chair of the Export Compliance Working Group (ECWG) of the American Chamber of Commerce to improve the U.S.-China high-tech trade relationship. Before working in China, Szymanski served on Capitol Hill for Congressman Don Manzullo, the House Committee on Small Business, and the U.S.-China Interparliamentary Exchange, advising on manufacturing, trade, and defense policies and accompanying and hosting official delegations to and from China. Szymanski received his master’s in business administration (MBA) from the Washington University Olin School of Business, with a focus on leadership in China. About the Podcast  In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address key issues affecting the optical and broadband industries. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com/.

Debra Freitas, CEO of Light Source Communications (LSC), has a simple view of its role as a dark fiber provider: a primary hyperscale and data-center resource on a growth path. LSC is a carrier-neutral, customer-agnostic provider focused on designing, building, and operating custom dark fiber infrastructure purpose-built to deliver capacity for GPU-dense clusters, minimal latency for real-time processing, and diversity to ensure network resilience. The dark fiber provider’s metro rings in Phoenix, Tulsa, Las Vegas, Kansas City and Indianapolis, as well as its long-haul route linking Tulsa and St. Louis, are delivering connectivity to support hyperscalers, neoclouds, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and other High-Performance Computing (HPC) applications. Growth is clearly a priority for LSC. In April, LSC announced its latest dark fiber route, bridging Amarillo, Texas, with Oklahoma City, Stillwater, and Tulsa, Oklahoma — the third new dark fiber build LSC has commenced this year. Construction is currently underway on dark fiber networks in Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Tulsa. Additionally, in June, LSC completed a 35-mile ring in Kansas City. Broadband Pulse recently caught up with Freitas to discuss how Light Source Communications is building new fiber routes based on customer demand and how dark fiber can transform the surrounding communities where data centers are located. Here’s a timeline for the interview: Opening/Introduction | 0:00 LSC’s dark fiber | 0:39 Freitas addresses its role as a dark fiber resource for the hyperscale and data center space. Prioritizing fiber builds | 3:03 LSC is building out new fiber routes based on customer demands. Regulatory/permitting challenges | 4:50 LSC is taking a proactive approach to getting ahead on permitting by engaging regional vice presidents and right-of-way specialists in each market it serves.   Competitive differentiation | 7:36 Freitas notes that it can stand out from other wholesale providers by focusing on supplying dark fiber to hyperscaler data center providers. Enterprise service opportunities | 8:42 While they are slower to adopt, LSC sees the potential to extend dark fiber to local governments and educational institutions. Smart city potential | 10:03 A city could use LSC’s dark fiber for a private fiber backbone. Workforce issues | 10:17 LSC has created a deep staff of experienced technicians and network planners to ensure it can complete projects on time and on budget. Working with ISPs |12:42 LSC notes the potential to provide ISPs with a fiber backbone that would enable them to connect to major data centers and technology hubs. Network maintenance and co-location services | 13:53 How its managed network service capabilities ease the strain for its customers. Final thoughts/closing | 15:52 About our guest Debra Freitas, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, has led Light Source Communications (LSC) since 2014, overseeing business development, strategic planning, and customer relationships for the dark fiber network owner-operator. A recognized leader in the technology sector, Debra was named to Inc.’s 2026 Female Founders 500 and has received multiple honors from the TITAN Women in Business Awards, including Platinum recognition for Outstanding Chief Executive Officer and Gold for Outstanding Female in Digital Transformation. She was also recognized by the TITAN Business Awards in 2025 for her leadership and impact in digital transformation. She earned a Bronze Stevie® Award for Best Female CEO of the Year that same year, when LSC was additionally named a Silver Stevie® Company of the Year. A University of Michigan alumna, Debra is an active member of the Arizona Technology Council, Women’s Tech Forum, and iMasons. She lives in Michigan with her husband and three children, where they enjoy traveling and supporting Michigan football. About the Podcast  In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address key issues affecting the optical and broadband industries. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com/.

In the third and final episode of the Fiber Connect 2026 show-daily podcast, we're chronicling the last day and wrap-up of the Fiber Connect 2026 trade show. Here’s a breakdown of the episode’s key moments: 0:00 Opening/Introduction 0:13 | New market research Fiber Broadband Association research highlights the requirements for fiber broadband in precision agriculture. 1:30 | Fidium’s Fiber Drive Sarah Davis, Vice President of Marketing Development at Fidium, discussed its community-centric approach to expanding its fiber network presence. 2:27 | Quantum and AI We noted that our colleague Matt Vincent, Editor-in-Chief of Data Center Frontier, covered Fiber Connect’s focus on quantum computing and artificial intelligence. 4:07 | Keynote Dr. Michio Kaku gave a speech on the connection between fiber and quantum computing technology. 4:38 | Final panel The Infinity and Beyond AI Quantum and Telecom panel featured speakers from Gigapower, Cisco and Emtelle. 5:14 | Wrap up and Closing About the Podcast  In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address key issues affecting the optical and broadband industries. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com/.