The Broadband Bunch

In this episode, we visit with Aeronet founder and CEO Gino Villarini as he recounts the twists and turns along the way to building Puerto Rico's leading high speed internet service provider. We look at the spectrum bandwidth and interference challenges facing wireless networks as well as how his entrepreneurial journey began at age 16. Gino also shares a look back at the role Aeronet played in the long road to recovery after P...

In this episode, we talk with Kathryn de Witt from The Pew Charitable Trusts Broadband Research Initiative. She has recently authored a research report on how states are expanding broadband access. Kathryn shares some of the promising practices, insights, research findings, and universal truths from her research. More about Pew Charitable Trusts Broadband Research Initiative here: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/projects/broadband-re...

In this episode, we are at the NTCA Rural Broadband Association event 2020 RTIME. We start with a visit with Christine O'Connor, executive director of the Alaska Telecom Association talks about her mission to educate and advocate for rural broadband programs and providers in Alaska, she provides an update to on-going broadband efforts and funding challenges. More about Alaska Telecom Association here: http://www.alaskatel.org...

In this episode, we speak with Claude Aiken, the President and CEO at the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA). Mr. Aiken shares with us WISPA's mission to help independent internet service providers bring better broadband services to their communities. We talk about the impact on rural communities, how WISPs can leverage the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOP), how WISPs get started and WISPA's role i...

In this episode, we speak with Caspar Faust, Field Operations Manager of Paladin Wireless, a wireless internet service provider (WISP) in northeast Georgia. Caspar shares with us the challenges of providing reliable high-speed broadband services to rural areas that are either underserved or unserved by the telecom incumbents. He explains what a WISP does, how Paladin Wireless got started and its mission to serve and improve their...

In this episode, we visit with Mariel Triggs, the CEO of MuralNet. As an engineer turned teacher and now an advocate for tribal nations, she helps us understand the scope of the tribal digital gap. We discuss the FCC's release of the EBS Spectrum and pros and cons regarding priority for tribal nations. She shares MuralNet's mission to help Native nations bring internet equity to their communities. They help bridge the digi...

In this episode, we talk with Nick Wilcox, CEO of Giosprite about progress in the internet of things. Nick and his team are working to bring big-budget ‘smart city’ capabilities to towns of all sizes by leveraging Lorawan and TV White Space. He shares lessons learned, success stories and advice to city managers about how to think about how connectivity improves the lives of all. About Nick Wilcox: Nick has over 30 years experie...

In this episode, we speak with Guy Bevente, an industry veteran with 25+ years working in AT&T and across the telecommunications and broadband industry. We dig into broadband trends that are driving some of the carrier’s behaviors from the omni-channel experience to digital transformation and personalization. We talk about the technology capabilities that providers need, such as design-driven thinking, modularity, and agi...

In this episode we speak with Mike Render, Founder and CEO of RVA LLC Marketing & Consulting. RVA is known as North America’s premier market research expert tracking fiber broadband deployment and corresponding consumer attitudes. RVA has a long partnership with the Fiber Broadband Association, providing fiber broadband market research, producing annual North American Fiber to the Home (FTTH) forecast reports and most recently...

In this episode, we are live at the Esri GeoConX Conference 2019 which was an amazing event. So much so we need two episodes to share it with you. In this second part, we speak with Rafael Fernandess, Esri USA, Anastasiia Savchenko, Esri Gas & Renewables, Tarek Kandakji, Lubbock Power & Light, and Derek Landers, GeoGraph Technologies. Esri GeoConX is an industry-leading event for the electric, gas, and telecommunications...

In this episode, we are live at the Esri GeoConX Conference 2019 which was an amazing event. So much so we need two episodes to share it with you. In part one, we speak with Jessica Valenti, Partner Manager, Telco & Utilities, Greg Babcock, Lansing Board of Light & Power and Wendi French, Wyndston Service (New Orleans Emergency Management). Esri GeoConX is an industry-leading event for the electric, gas, and telecommuni...

In this episode recorded at the Broadband World Forum, we speak with Andrew Van Der Haar, Fiber Carrier Association, Donovan Artz and Greg Aston from ETI. Andrew shares the origin and current state of the Fiber Carrier Association. We talk about the trends in Open Access Networks as well as standards adoption. Donovan talks about trends in device management and IoT. We discuss data privacy and wonder if the CIA subscribes to th...