In the increasingly competitive gigabit broadband market, service providers need to look for ways to differentiate beyond offering more speed for the same or sometimes even discounted prices to avoid a dangerous race to the bottom. Focus on Quality of Experience and the home network is therefore key and connected home presents a significant revenue opportunity for North American digital service providers. But how can ISPs ensure that they get the most out of this opportunity and what are some of the areas of the connected home that can provide the biggest impact in terms of further monetization? This presentation will provide an overview of key trends in the North American residential broadband and connected home markets.

Special Guest:

Alzbeta Fellenbaum
Principal Analyst | 5G & Broadband, Pricing & Strategy
Omdia

We are at a critical moment when broadband infrastructure funding is at an all-time high due to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program —the single largest broadband program in U.S. history. This historic level of funding creates an opportunity to bring high-speed internet access to every community in America and close the digital divide.

Historic levels of funding will accelerate broadband network construction, putting enormous pressure on local governments responsible for permitting infrastructure construction within municipal boundaries. These processes take time and resources, and not every government is equipped for the coming wave of construction. This is especially true in rural areas, where municipal resources are lowest and BEAD activity will be highest.

Effective and efficient permitting processes are critical for ISPs and local governments to successfully deploy broadband networks that will give every American community modern connectivity. Permitting Success Strategies for ISPs and Local Governments a paper offering solutions for permitting was published on September 4, 2024 by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. Please join the author of the paper and permitting experts who will discuss the paper and its content.

Special Guests:

• Drew Garner, Director of Policy Engagement, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
• Ian Linssen, Assistant to the City Manager, City of Mesa
• Bailey Edenburn, Manager, Champaign County Farm Bureau
• Carsi Mitzner, Government Affairs Director, Brightspeed
• Jill Springer, Chief Environmental Review & Permitting Officer, NTIA

The Canadian Telecommunications Association (“CTA”) and Fiber Broadband Association (“FBA”) share many similar priorities including how each helps the industry, and its members, connect and invest in communities as a means of creating paths to better economic futures. While the realities of connecting everyone, everywhere vary on each side of the border based on different regulatory environments, demographics, and geographies, telecommunications providers in both countries are investing significantly to expand and enhance connectivity to homes and businesses across North America. Join CTA President and CEO, Robert Ghiz, and FBA President and CEO, Gary Bolton, for a conversation about the similarities and differences of closing the digital divide in the U.S. and Canada.

Special Guest:

Robert Ghiz, President and CEO, Canadian Telecommunications Association

Retaining sovereignty while tackling the digital divide remains challenging for Indigenous communities across Canada. Education, workforce development, funding, and community participation all require unique skillsets to get a Nation’s buy-in. Finding the resources and the people to help make these dreams a reality can pose a significant hurdle in connecting these communities to high-speed broadband.

The Indigenous Connectivity Institute is leading the charge to help these communities get the education and resources to build their own internet networks. Join Gary Bolton as he sits down with Mark Buell and Frank Horn to discuss the unique challenges and solutions to help spur internet connectivity across Indigenous lands.

Special Guests:

• Mark Buell, Director of Indigenous Programs, The Indigenous Connectivity Institute
• Frank Horn, Director – Workforce Development, The Indigenous Connectivity Institute

Vincent Garnier, Director General FTTH Council Europe, will discuss the current status of Fiber in Europe and the key initiatives of the FTTH Council in Europe and of the Fiber Council Global Alliance. Fiber is having a significant positive impact on economic development, sustainability, and is elevating the quality of life for communities around the world. Gary and Vincent will be joining Fiber for Breakfast from the FCGA Global Summit in Kuala Lumpur and will share the latest global stats, research, and trends for Fiber deployment.

Special Guest:
Vincent Garnier, Director General, FTTH Council Europe

Join Joe Hickey as he delves into the key strategies for successful broadband deployment in challenging environments. In this focused discussion, Joe will explore customer-centric approaches, innovative planning, and practical solutions for overcoming obstacles like regulatory delays and supply chain disruptions. As President of PomeGran, a company dedicated to innovative and community-driven connectivity solutions, Joe will share valuable insights to ensure fiber deployments are grounded in best practices and set up for success.

Special Guest:

• Joe Hickey, President, PomeGran Inc.

Ron Westfall, Research Director, will share insights and takeaways from The Futurum Group’s AI Intelligence studies that impact the fiber ecosystem. Ron will spotlight how organizations are deploying AI services, how organizations plan to spend on AI, top AI solution selection criteria, and key AI market trends. To improve business outcomes and customer experiences, fiber organizations, such as fiber operators, must administer complex architectures that provide greater capacity and fulfill evolving customer needs. Greater AI, including GenAI, adoption can enable fiber organizations to streamline operations, optimize costs, and improve time-to-value.

Fiber ecosystem players are strengthening their investments in AI, including AIOps and machine learning, to meet major goals such as operations automation, improving customer support alongside workforce experience, advancing autonomous networks capabilities, boosting field tech efficiencies, as well as augmenting data processing and analytics, bandwidth management and designing fiber network routes. Ron will provide perspective on why he sees progress in how fiber organizations are fulfilling strategic objectives by using AI capabilities to enable the delivery of experience-first network services and attain organization-wide agility throughout operations and business processes.

Special Guest:

Ron Westfall, Research Director, Futurum Group

Jeff Heynen, VP of Broadband Access and Home Networking, will share details from Dell’Oro’s recently published forecast on PON and DOCSIS equipment spending. Jeff will highlight spending and technology trends in the North American market, as well as how vendors are preparing for an anticipated rebound in purchasing beginning later this year, thanks in part to BEAD and other large-scale subsidization efforts.

Special Guest:

Jeff Heynen, Vice President, Broadband Access and Home Networking, Dell’Oro Group

Gigabit Fiber Can Add $326B to US GDP – Bandwidth Is All About Efficiency And Productivity.

Many have heard the argument that “symmetrical Gigabit bandwidth is mostly just marketing hype… there are very few, if any, applications that require a Gigabit today”.

Applications simply being functional misses the real point! The question is how effectively and how efficiently applications will run.

A new study demonstrates, via solid scientific evidence, that with higher bandwidth comes greater efficiency… and fewer wasted human hours. A user at 100/20 Mbps wastes about 18 minutes per day (adding many increments of a few seconds each) versus a user at 700/500 Mbps (an example of a gigabit customer constrained by Wi-Fi etc.) This time saved obviously has significant financial benefits – to both the individual and the country.

This session will discuss the evidence behind the study, and its full implications for fiber and broadband.

Special Guests:

John George, Sr Director, Solutions Engineering & Professional Services, OFS

Michael Render, Founder and CEO. RVA LLC

This week’s episode of Fiber for Breakfast comes to you from the main stage of Fiber Connect 2024 in Nashville, TN, or as it is known to hockey fans, “Smashville”. Watch out for flying catfish as Gary welcomes Sean Henry, CEO of the National Hockey League’s Nashville Predators and Bridgestone Arena, for a special in person conversation.

A testament to Sean Henry’s leadership, Bridgestone Arena was named 2024’s “Arena of the Year” by the Academy of Country Music (ACM) and ranked among the top five U.S. arenas for ticket sales in a 2023 Pollstar / Billboard report, and the Nashville Predators have qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs eight times in the last nine seasons. Sean Henry has been recognized in Nashville Business Journal’s annual list of “Most Admired CEOs in Tennessee” multiple times and was awarded “The Tennessean Sports Person of the Year” in 2016.

Sean and Gary will discuss hockey, the importance community engagement and outreach, and, of course, the invaluable role of technology and broadband for cultivating a passionate fanbase and developing a world class sports and events venue in the heart of Music City.

Special Guest:

Sean Henry, CEO, NHL’s Nashville Predators & Bridgestone Arena

This week on Fiber for Breakfast, Gary is joined by Sheppard Mullin’s Dave Thomas and Ryan Roberts who will discuss the first BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program) draft agreement out of Colorado, and important compliance preparation information for FBA members.

Special Guests:

• Ryan Roberts, Partner, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

• Dave Thomas, Partner, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Subscriber perception of service quality has new ramifications as the FCC has begun requiring internet service providers (ISPs) to publish “Consumer Broadband Labels” for each of their individual service tiers. Large ISPs began displaying them in April. By October, all ISPs will be required to provide transparency through these labels that include pricing, data caps, bundling, and “typical” network performance metrics.

The network performance being delivered to a subscriber’s address can be markedly different from what people living in that household actually experience. Concerns about last mile connectivity can extend to concerns about the last few feet. When there is not a direct wired connection, aspects such as distance to the router, signal interference, equipment age, and more can significantly degrade throughput and latency.

In this discussion, we will cover the key differences in these measurements for regulatory compliance, competitive intelligence, and service validation. Customer perception will continue to be an essential factor in how subscribers value their service. Having third-party validation of the actual network performance being delivered to households can maximize the listed claims of “typical” performance on labels while proving consumer value, reducing churn, and offering protection from unjustified accusations.

Special Guest:

Bryan Darr, VP – Government Affairs, Ookla