With an unprecedented influx of Broadband funding sweeping across the US, the industry finds itself amid a wealth of opportunities. The flip side of this reveals challenges in sourcing, recruiting, and retaining the right workforce. Crafting a talent strategy aligned with business goals and ensuring you have employment practices that enable you to attract, develop, engage, and retain the best talent is imperative for success. In this webinar, we will delve into talent challenges you are likely experiencing, while exploring best practices to guide you toward success in your recruitment endeavors.

Guest Presenter: Kjirsten Mickesh, Chief People Officer, Finley Engineering

Tribal lands have traditionally had less access to high-speed broadband than the rest of America. While roughly 15% of Americans don’t have access to high-speed broadband, this increases to over 35% in tribal lands. The Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program under NTIA sets aside $3B for deployment and adoption of broadband in Tribal Lands. Many tribes have already won grants under this program and a new Notice of Funding Opportunity is out now with a submission deadline in January 2024 with a budget of $1B. This webinar will answer some of your questions about the TBCP program and will reflect on the advantages of having fiber in your tribal lands.

Guest Presenters:
• Sachin Gupta, Director of Government Business and Economic Development, Centranet
• Robert Griffin, Tribal Broadband coordinator, The Choctaw Nation Government Division

Quantum Computing is emerging as a powerful tool and transformative technology with the potential to revolutionize our world. In this webinar, you’ll hear from Nicole Barberis, IonQ’s Director of Quantum Business Solutions, about the remarkable impact quantum computing may offer and its implications for solving complex problems in areas including optimization, machine learning, drug discovery, and finance to name a few.

Guest Presenter: Nicole Barberis, IonQ, Director-Quantum Business Solutions

Based on the most recent FBA/ RVA consumer research study, the desire for high quality broadband has never been stronger. In addition, the preference for fiber broadband versus other types continues to grow. Fiber wins in terms of recent churn, NPS scores, and high likelihood of switching if available. Perhaps most importantly, fiber is rated the very best Internet delivery method overall by nearly two thirds of all users and rated best by users of all types of Internet delivery. This preference combined with strong fiber deployment means the market share gains of Fiber are likely to continue – with fiber likely becoming the most used Internet delivery method within a few years.

Guest Presenter: Michael Render, CEO and Principal Analyst, RVA LLC Market Research and Consulting

Broadband offices are busy preparing for their own state challenge process to determine where BEAD funding will be directed. There are unserved areas that all can agree on but others where there is stark disagreement regarding the level of service provided to consumers. Local governments, nonprofits and ISPs will have the opportunity to work with state broadband offices to target communities that the FCC’s map may have misclassified. Crowdsource speed testing will play an important role, particularly with states that are developing their own criteria for determining grant eligibility, as allowed within NTIA rules.

Guest Presenter: Bryan Darr, Vice President – Government Affairs, Ookla

The Connect and Literacy fund is designed to help close the digital divide in MS through affordable connectivity, digital literacy and device distribution. These actions will help ensure individuals have access to affordable connectivity and play a major role in the sustainability of those networks that are being made possible by both private and public capital across our nation.

“There has to be a balance struck between network affordability and profitability in order to sustain rural broadband.” Quinn Jordan.

Guest Presenter: Quinn Jordan, Executive Director, Mississippi Broadband Association (MSBA)

Quantum, the science that Einstein described as “spooky action at a distance”, is making headlines globally as researchers, scientists and product developers rush to bring powerful practical applications to bear. In this session, you’ll learn the basic differences between classical and quantum technologies, what capabilities quantum is likely to usher in, and who stands to benefit the most from tools that are estimated to offer $1.3 trillion in value by 2035.

Guest Presenter: Dr. Duncan Earl, Co-Founder, President and Chief Technology Officer at quantum networking company Qubitekk

After a blockbuster year for PON equipment purchases in 2022, are North American service providers continuing their spending spree or taking a breather. This webinar will detail the fiber purchasing and technology trends for North American operators, including XGS-PON and 25GS-PON, and how cable operators are using fiber to expand their residential broadband networks.

Guest Presenter: Jeff Heynen, Vice President, Broadband Access & Home Networking

Fiber buildout throughout the United States will not solve the digital divide alone. Though high-speed internet access is essential, we will only see success if we acknowledge and address non-deployment barriers. Inclusion must be built in from the beginning, not as an afterthought. Angela Siefer presents NDIA’s (potentially blasphemous) position in the fiber community and why implementing people-first digital inclusion solutions will be key to closing the digital divide.

Guest Presenter: Angela Siefer, Executive Director, National Digital Inclusion Alliance

In this Fiber for Breakfast, hear from Nadja Turek, Director of Sustainability, about altafiber (formerly Cincinnati Bell) and Hawaiian Telcom’s unique climate action plans to reduce each company’s carbon emissions by 40% by 2030, on the road to net-zero emissions by 2040. We all need this urgency and order of magnitude reduction to meet Paris Climate Accord targets and hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Nadja will discuss key carbon reduction (and business efficiency and resiliency) actions, including transitioning customers from copper to fiber solutions and powering down the copper network. She also oversees the company’s climate risk assessments in the Midwest and Hawaii. In her role, Nadja works internally with the network, fleet, and real estate experts and externally with technology, community, and finance collaborators to address climate change. Nadja’s background combines environmental sustainability with mission and operational resiliency.

Guest Presenter: Nadja Turek, PE, Sustainability Director, altafiber and Hawaiian Telcom

A nationally recognized expert in the environmental and infrastructure fields, Eric Beightel brings more than 20 years of experience to the Permitting Council. Beightel’s extensive public and private sector experience honed his command of the National Environmental Policy Act and his capacity for solving complex environmental permitting problems on the local, state and national level. His federal experience includes serving as a senior environmental policy advisor at the Department of Transportation and as a policy advisor at the Office of Management and Budget, where he developed an expertise in federal permitting and the review for major infrastructure projects. Beightel went on to work for WSP, USA as a senior director and vice president, and HDR, Inc. as an Associate vice president and national lead for Infrastructure Policy and Environmental Strategy.

Presenter: Eric Beightel, Executive Director, Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council

Over the past 5 years, satisfaction with home internet providers has risen for the whole industry, particularly for Fiber-based providers (10 pts). The higher speed tiers and network quality offered to customers today drive the rise in satisfaction. Still, not all consumers want or are even aware of higher speeds and Gigabit speed tiers. Others believe they can cut the Fiber internet cord and get by with 5G unlimited plans or free WiFi. As the Fiber industry is poised to expand, it may need to go beyond the focus on speed and adopt targeted campaigns to attract and retain very different sets of customers.

Guest Presenter: Dritan Nesho, Global CEO, HarrisX