The Fiber Broadband Association has sponsored a large random study of online consumers for 16 years now to monitor trends in broadband performance, satisfaction, life impacts, and more. The 2022 Study broke new ground, digging deeper into the ways that high quality broadband – especially fiber – is making a difference in the world. Join us on Fiber for Breakfast and see how fiber to the home is impacting the lives of those in low income and minority categories in terms of education, healthcare, entrepreneurship, and job quality. The session will also examine ways fiber is helping to lower U.S. carbon emissions, enabling new migration trends to more rural areas, and improving personal productivity.

Webinar Presenters:

• Deborah Kish, Vice President of Research and Workforce Development, Fiber Broadband Association
• Mike Render, Founder and CEO, RVA LLC Market Research and Consulting Group
• John George, Sr. Director, Solutions and Professional Services, OFS, and Chair of the Fiber Broadband Association’s Technology Committee

Electric Power Utilities have been in the business of delivering power and other necessary utilities to all the communities across the United States for almost 200 years, at every level of scale. They have created the most granular utility delivery system by leveraging generational investments into long-term assets that have allowed us to become the most advanced and productive economy on the planet. High-speed Broadband Networks are clearly a necessity to maintain our position as the economic and development benchmark in the world. This new utility is critical for us to monitor, manage, secure, and shape our power infrastructure as well as to deliver new services. This includes Internal Network Requirements, Green Power Initiatives, Rapid Service Restoration, Demand Balancing, Asset Tracking, EMA, Public Safety as well as Fiber-based Broadband Internet applications, just to name a few. In this Fiber for Breakfast, Scott Pell, VP of Quality at FiberRise, will talk about the flexibility of Fiber Broadband as a utility and how Power Companies will play a major part in the continued deployment of Fiber across the country.

Webinar Guest:

With 25 years of Broadband experience, primarily in underserved areas, Scott Pell has unique expertise in forging relationships across the industry to serve the broader marketplace. He recently joined FiberRise® as the VP of Quality. He leads the Process Improvement, Quality and Scaling Initiatives for the company. In January, Scott will take over the role of VP of Operations. Previously, Scott served as the division CTO for NRTC Broadband Solutions, where he led the scaling efforts to support rapid growth. Before that, he founded API Digital in Huntsville, AL which was focused on building, operating, and supporting networks for underserved areas…including Huntsville at the time. The company was acquired by NRTC in 2017.

How much will it cost to reach universal broadband availability in the United States? Answering that question requires understanding network construction costs, estimating the number of unserved and underserved locations, and defining “broadband” – and that is exactly what Vantage Point Solutions has done in their recent whitepaper, Cost of Bringing Broadband to All.

Larry Thompson, PE, co-author of the paper, will discuss the methodology and findings of the report during this Fiber for Breakfast presentation.

In particular, he will explain how previous estimates came to be so far off the mark and will share the implications raised by this new research, including – perhaps shockingly – that even the current funding infusion is woefully inadequate to truly finish the job once and for all. And while the cost to bring broadband to all is high, the cost of failing to do so is higher.

Webinar Guest:

Larry Thompson, PE is the CEO of Vantage Point Solutions, a premier engineering and consulting firm serving the fiber broadband industry. A licensed professional engineer, he held several engineering and management positions prior to founding Vantage Point Solutions in 2002. With over 30 years of experience designing fiber-based, wireless, and satellite networks, he is a trusted and respected expert authority on matters related to telecommunication technology and regulation. As such, he is a two-term member of the FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC).

Digital literacy and internet access can substantially help people with mental illness. John Torous, MD MBI and Noy Alon, BS from the Division of Digital Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center will discuss how the Internet and Digital Literacy can positively impact patient outcomes and how they have worked to improve patients’ digital literacy and use of smartphones. Dr. Torous and his team have also developed a digital navigator training program to scale Digital Literacy across the country. While their efforts are focused on leveraging broadband to improve Mental Health, these Digital Literacy tools can be applied to different use cases.

Webinar Guests:

John Torous, MD MBI is director of the digital psychiatry division, in the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard Medical School affiliated teaching hospital, where he also serves as a staff psychiatrist and assistant professor. He has a background in electrical engineering and computer sciences and received an undergraduate degree in the field from UC Berkeley before attending medical school at UC San Diego. He completed his psychiatry residency, fellowship in clinical informatics, and master’s degree in biomedical informatics at Harvard. Dr. Torous is active in investigating the potential of mobile mental health technologies for psychiatry, publishing over 200 peer reviewed articles on the topic. He serves as editor-in-chief for JMIR Mental Health (http://mental.jmir.org/), web editor for JAMA Psychiatry and currently leads the American Psychiatric Association’s Health IT Committee.

Noy Alon is a clinical research assistant at the division of digital psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She graduated magna cum ladum and with honors from Brown University with a degree in Biology. She currently leads the department’s digital navigator training, digital literacy program, and app evaluation database (mindapps.org). She aims to attend medical school with the goal of becoming a psychiatrist.

In this episode of Fiber for Breakfast, join us as we hear from Mayor William Acee of the Village of Sherburne in Chenango County, New York. Mayor Acee will share how after being the first community between Utica and Binghamton to install an EV charger and in 2008 creating and instituting an Energy Efficiency Program filed with the NYS Public Service Commission, Sherburne has continued to innovate. The town is focused on end-of-year completion of a municipally owned fiber to the home network for approximately 2,000 electric customers. The process has included an ahead-of-schedule timeline and state grant funding. Mayor Acee has been instrumental in pushing for Open Access Municipal Fiber.

Webinar Guest:

William “Bill” Acee has served as Sherburne’s Mayor since 2001. From 1990 and onward, Bill has been involved in local government in Sherburne, NY and from that time he placed emphasis on learning as much as possible about the villages’ municipal electric system. This spanned the 1996 transition from regulated electric markets to the current market model administered by the NY Independent System Operator. Bill was a founding member of the NY Association of Public Power (an association of 13 consumer owned electric utilities which includes Coops and Municipals). In 2017 Bill served ex officio on the board of the American Public Power Association in Washington DC (a national trade group representing over 2000 Municipally Owned Electric Utilities) and chaired their Policy Makers Committee. He completed the Legislator Energy Horizon Institute in Washington, DC in 2018. In 2019 Bill completed the 1-week NY Market Orientation class at the NY Independent System Operator (NYISO) in Rensselaer, NY.

As states examine how to best invest federal funds to deploy broadband in unserved and underserved areas, a new study developed by CTC Technology & Energy analyzed fixed wireless technologies and their suitability for delivering broadband service in various environments. Join us for Fiber for Breakfast and an in-depth conversation analyzing fixed wireless and fiber technology in unserved rural areas. Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Andrew Afflerbach, P.E., will discuss considerations such as long-term impacts of fiber technology through infrastructure and population mapping; realistic cost modeling; and the maintenance, benefits, capacity, and performance of fiber technology.

Webinar Guest:

Andrew Afflerbach, Ph.D., P.E.
CEO and Chief Technology Officer
CTC Technology & Energy

A licensed Professional Engineer, Dr. Andrew Afflerbach specializes in the planning, designing, and implementation oversight of fiber and wireless broadband communications networks, smart cities strategies, and public safety networks. He is an experienced network planner who understands the business and financial implications of various network designs and has delivered strategic technical guidance on wired and wireless communications issues to cities, states, and national governments. As CTC’s Chief Technology Officer, Andrew oversees all technical analysis and engineering work performed by the firm. With over 25 years of broadband experience, Andrew testifies as an expert witness on broadband communications issues and is frequently consulted on critical communications policy issues through technical analyses submitted to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and policymakers.

Appalachian communities see connectivity as key to economic revitalization. Yet today, only 21% of people living in the region’s most distressed counties have high-speed internet connections in their homes. The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is working to change that by investing roughly $30M/year on broadband projects in the region, while also helping communities prepare for the $65B freight train of federal funding heading their way.

In this Fiber for Breakfast, Curtis Hansen, who leads ARC’s broadband work, introduces this unique agency and shares upcoming initiatives to watch.

Webinar Guest:

Curtis Hansen, Broadband Program Manager, Appalachian Regional Commission

Curtis Hansen is a program manager at the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), where he leads the organization’s efforts to close the digital divide by expanding broadband access throughout Appalachia. Curtis has worked as an engineer for over ten years, most recently at an internet service provider where he led broadband planning efforts for fiber and cellular networks in some of the most rural and remote parts of the United States and the Caribbean. In that role, he helped lead the company’s participation in federal broadband funding programs, including RDOF, CAF2, Mobility Fund, E-Rate, ReConnect, and CARES. Prior to his work in rural broadband, Curtis served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force where he was an R&D Program Manager.

As the U.S. prepares to make an unprecedented investment in both energy and broadband infrastructure, it will be important to recognize the role utility pole infrastructure can play. Whether a company chooses to undertake its own broadband deployments or opts to facilitate deployments by others, the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program prioritizes fiber broadband deployments. These deployments can be less costly and completed more quickly if the fiber is run on existing utility poles. However, these poles may require a make-ready process before they can support fiber deployments. In this Fiber for Breakfast, Finley Engineering’s Sean Middleton, Director, Strategy and Operations, will discuss the implications and requirements for utilities, including potential options to leverage federal funding to modernize electric power infrastructure.

Webinar Guest:

Sean Middleton, Director, Strategy and Operations, Finley Engineering, is an accomplished Professional Engineer, with more than 25 years of experience. Sean’s expertise includes electrical engineering, distribution system operations management, design and maintenance of electrical systems, and consulting on many of today’s regulatory and compliance issues. With his background in the development of broadband networks, he helps energy and telecom clients in meeting RUS requirements and standards, staying up to date on legislative funding, providing project management support, wireless, FTTP, and consulting on smart grid initiatives. Sean received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Bradley University and his MBA from the University of Illinois at Springfield. He is a member of the IEEE including the Power, Communication, and Photonic Societies and the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE). He previously sat on the Cyber Security Member Advisory Group for the Cooperative Research Network (CRN/ NRECA) and serves on the State Board of Professional Engineers for the IL Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

In this Fiber for Breakfast, Ron Westfall, Research Director & Senior Analyst, will share how Futurum Research recently completed a 500+ person survey across the key decision makers of major organizations in partnership with Microsoft to identify workplace engagement and collaboration trends over the past two years. Futurum’s key survey findings included an increasing percentage of current workforces are now primarily REMOTE or work-from-home – i.e., not required to regularly be in an office. This includes that in the post-pandemic era, organization decision makers expect their workforces to become more REMOTE or work-from-home. Of key importance is a significant shift across workspace arrangements with conference rooms and spaces at commercial offices receding and physical restructuring of unused office space picking up pace. Ron will explain how Futurum believes the expansion of WFH/hybrid work and distributed collaboration platform adoption provides significant warrant and validation for the evolving FTTH and fiber build use cases.

Webinar Guest:

Ron Westfall, Research Director & Senior Analyst, Futurum Research

Ron is an experienced research expert and analyst, with over 20 years of experience in the digital and IT transformation markets. A Senior Analyst and Research Director with Futurum Research, he is a recognized authority at tracking the evolution of and identifying the key disruptive trends within the service enablement ecosystem, including software and services, infrastructure, 5G/IoT, AI/analytics, security, cloud computing, revenue management, and regulatory issues.

Please join us for Fiber for Breakfast titled, “Changing the Fate of Rural Missouri with Fiber Broadband – An Electric Coop with More Broadband Subs Than Electric Members…” on Wednesday, June 29, at 10am EDT with Darren Farnan, General Manager of United Fiber.

The unique thing about United Fiber is that they now have about 24,000 fiber subscribers and its parent company, United Electric, has 7500 members (10,000 meters). They are the only electric cooperative with more fiber subscribers than electric members in the country. Furthermore, they are a small cooperative with one of the lowest customer densities (2.5 meters per mile) in the State of Missouri. Darren will share how they have now built out the bulk of their membership (finishing in the next 12 months) in over 40 communities in Northwest Missouri. Fiber broadband connectivity has changed the future opportunities in their region, along with the future of the Cooperative.

Webinar Guest:

Darren Farnan has worked for United Electric Cooperative since 1994 and serves as the General Manager of United Fiber. Darren has also served in the roles of Chief Development Officer and Energy Services manager for United. Darren led the development and operations of the United Fiber network which has grown to over 3200 miles of fiber, 54 employees, and $25 million in annual revenue since turning up our first fiber customer in 2013. Currently, United Fiber is approaching 25,000 combined residential and commercial fiber customers. Darren received his Bachelor of Science in Business Management (1991), and MBA (1992) from Northwest Missouri State University. Darren served as the Chair for the UTC Utilities Broadband Committee from 2018-2021 and has provided numerous national presentations for the FTTH Council, Calix, and UTC on the United Fiber business. He is involved in many local organizations including economic development and civic organizations throughout the United service area.

Join us for Fiber for Breakfast with Omdia’s Julie Kunstler and Jaimie Lenderman as they sit down with FBA’s Gary Bolton to chat all things Fiber Connect 2022. They will be discussing the hottest topics, key insights, and biggest takeaways from what lived up to be the biggest Fiber Connect yet.

Webinar Guests:

Julie Kunstler is Chief Analyst within Omdia’s Broadband Access Intelligence Service. Julie has several decades of experience in the communications components, equipment, and software industry. She is responsible for market analysis of wireline and wireless broadband access technologies and networks, focusing on developing technologies such as next-gen PON. Prior to joining Omdia, Julie served as VP Business Development for Teknovus, focusing on FTTX deployments in Asia-Pacific, OEM agreements with major equipment vendors, corporate strategy, analyst relationships, business planning, and fund raising. Before Teknovus, Julie served as co-founder and general partner for Portview Communications Partners, a VC fund focusing on investments in early-stage communications technology companies.

Jaimie Lenderman is a Principal Analyst and Research Manager at Omdia covering the Broadband Access Intelligence Service. Jaimie provides insight to key audiences and ecosystem players. Reports include quarterly market share trackers, forecasts, next-gen technology analysis and business strategy, and specialized consulting projects. Jaimie’s research areas include fiber, copper, cable, and fixed wireless access technologies. She has worked in the telecoms industry for over seven years. Prior to joining Ovum, now Omdia, in 2017 Jaimie was a broadband infrastructure and customer premise equipment analyst at IHS Markit. She previously held roles in the public policy and construction sectors. Jaimie’s research findings and thought leadership have been published in key filings for prominent regulatory bodies, including the FCC and the EU. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Montana State University.

How did 1G become the global standard for broadband? In this Fiber for Breakfast, Jaimie Lenderman, Principal Analyst, Broadband Access Intelligence Service at Omdia, a global technology market research firm, will discuss this question and the results of an Omdia study around wireline broadband offerings. What’s more, Jaimie will break down the drivers behind this trend in the North America.

Webinar Guest:

Jaimie Lenderman is a Principal Analyst and Research Manager at Omdia covering the Broadband Access Intelligence Service. Jaimie provides insight to key audiences and ecosystem players. Reports include quarterly market share trackers, forecasts, next-gen technology analysis and business strategy, and specialized consulting projects.

Jaimie’s research areas include fiber, copper, cable, and fixed wireless access technologies. She has worked in the telecoms industry for over seven years. Prior to joining Ovum, now Omdia, in 2017 Jaimie was a broadband infrastructure and customer premise equipment analyst at IHS Markit. She previously held roles in the public policy and construction sectors. Jaimie’s research findings and thought leadership have been published in key filings for prominent regulatory bodies, including the FCC and the EU. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Montana State University.