Let's Get Digital with Carrie Charles

For a tower company to be meaningful and to be at scale, it has to stay private and be permanent. Most of all, it has to partner with the customers, not squeeze them. One such tower company is Vertical Bridge , the largest private owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure in the US. Alex Gellman , its CEO and Cofounder, joins Carrie Charles on today’s show to share what Vertical...

Nokia is one of the biggest 5G players, not only in the US but in the whole world. As it embraces the next generation of technology, it is going to need to upscale its talent pool to meet new challenges. How does Nokia replenish its talent well, externally and internally? Joining Carrie Charles to talk about this is Marianne Strobel , the tech giant’s Head of North America Customer Marketing and C...

For the existing telecom workforce, there are many very dedicated men and women out there who are deploying 5G technology infrastructure. It's critical to the American public to have that and to be the first to achieve it, but also to make sure that those workers not only come to work but go home at night safe. Om today’s show, Duane MacEntee, the Executive Director of the NWSA (National Wireless...

Every now and then, someone comes along and transforms and disrupts an industry. On today’s show, Carrie Charles talks to one of those people,  Iyad Tarazi . Iyad is the President and CEO of  Federated Wireless , an American-based wireless communications company headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia. Federated Wireless is considered is a phenomenal place to call home by its employees. Today,...

Culture is relative to being number one in any industry. After all, in order to provide the very best to your clients, you need to have people who also perform their jobs at their very best. Talking to someone who has brought that amazing employee culture to the telecommunications industry, Carrie Charles sits down with  Thomas Kane , the President of the site development firm,  Network Building +...

In these times of the COVID-19 pandemic, where almost all industries and infrastructures are taking a hit, the digital space has undeniably stood its ground and even became the connective tissue that is holding things together today. Speaking about the power of digital in this episode, Carrie Charles interviews digital influencer and infrastructure visionary,  Marc Ganzi . He is a Managing Partner...

The 4th Industrial Revolution merges physical and biological systems. It’s the next step in how society will interact with each other. And for it to work, we need to move data faster and more efficiently.   Which is why 5G has a big role in how it plays out. And it’s become even more important as we shift to remote work in response to COVID-19. Our guest this week, Adam Zuckerman, is an expert in...

Samsung focused on 5G from very early on. So it’s pioneered many innovations, especially in the millimeter wave spectrum space. And the company is focused on expanding in the U.S, which is an asset to our industry. Our guest this week is Derek Johnston, Head of Marketing at Samsung Networks. Don’t miss hearing what Derek shares about Samsung’s: 5G Innovation Zone, which explores manufacturing use...

Over the past few months, the network has faced sudden, unprecedented pressure as work from home and school from home became an instantaneous standard. This has placed new focus on the importance of broadband and the 5G rollout, and the workforce shortages affecting them. This week’s guest is Cari Shyiak, CEO of SAC Wireless. SAC teams work within all facets of wireless projects. For people lookin...

When people talk about the Internet of Things (IoT), they’re often talking about the many devices that can be connected. But we don’t want things to simply connect. We want to have a combined experience with those connected things. This week’s guest, Dr. Derek Peterson, CTO at Boingo Wireless, has thought about convergence a lot. In his “Convergence Manifesto,” he called on the industry to stop co...

WIA’s premier industry conference, Connect (X), is going virtual this year. Connect (X): All Access will be held May 19, with a Small and Diverse Business Summit May 20-21. All virtual. All free. WIA’s President and CEO, Jonathan Adelstein, is this week’s guest. Listen now as he shares: What you can expect from Connect (X): All Access The exciting new Diversity Summit debuting this year The role t...

The number of mobile customers are fairly fixed. And they will all pay roughly the same amount per month for service. If you’re a carrier wanting to recover the cost of implementing 5G, you’ll want to get smart about the opportunities to provide enterprise-class services on the edge. This week’s guest is Simon Crosby, CTO of SWIM.AI. SWIM analyses data as it’s streaming, rather than storing it to...

Most companies recognize the importance of diversity and inclusion (D&I). But they may find themselves short of their goals when it comes to implementation. This week’s guests are from a Top 100 Certified Minority Business. They know what an effective D&I strategy looks like. Tom Marciano, CRO, and Iris Dawson, VP of Site Development work at inRange Solutions…A company with high retention...

When companies shift to remote work, they usually do it gradually, with a plan in place. But over the past few weeks, many companies have gone from little remote work to almost 100 percent remote. Our guest this week is Stephan Dohrn, co-founder of Radical Inclusion. His company helps leaders manage their teams in remote environments. He’s here to offer advice for leaders who may be struggling wit...

The past few weeks have been uncertain and scary. In our industry, essential personnel are out there working to keep us connected, which is both worrying and inspiring. In spite of this reality, our worries and concerns haven’t dampened the hope and optimism for the robust recovery of telecom. Our guest this week is Brett Chester, VP of Marketing for Sitetracker. On March 25, the company published...

Our guest this week is Will Townsend, Senior Analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. He travels the world spending time with enterprise infrastructure providers and operators. So, he understands the technology and the services that get layered over it. And he’s got solid ideas about what is coming next. Many of the most disruptive transformations will happen in industries that are still “old scho...

If you’re in vertical telecom, you’re familiar with permitting delays and workforce shortages. Your counterparts in horizontal deployments face similar challenges: more applications than governments can handle; uncertainty with regulation, and not enough workforce to install the conduit. But fiber faces other challenges specific to its underground environment. This week’s guest is Chad Rasmussen....

Finding and retaining talent are twin challenges facing our industry. Add in rapid company growth, and those challenges get more critical and severe. And yet Leaf Communications isn’t struggling, in spite of impressive growth. In fact, candidates actively seek positions within the company. So how are they doing it? In this week’s episode, CEO Dan Leaf, shares the key factors to Leaf’s success, inc...

Perhaps because much of the time, it’s actually less visible. We’re talking about the fiber network. And 5G and smart cities cannot exist without it. In the top 25 U.S. metro areas alone, 5G needs 1.4 million miles of fiber. An estimated $130B-$150B in U.S. fiber investment is needed over then next few years to support the network! Our guest this week is Lisa Youngers. She’s the President & CE...

Episode 12: How NATE is tackling the 5G Labor Shortage Guest Todd Schlekeway, Executive Director of NATE It’s a slow climb to train enough tower technicians. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr says the U.S. 5G rollout requires 20,000 of them. Unfortunately, that many technicians simply do not exist today. As a result, rollouts are stalling. This week’s guest, Todd Schlekeway, is well-acquainted with th...

. The future of telecom is much more than an advance from 4G to 5G. The entire industry is being upgraded. It’s no longer just a vehicle for voice and data. There’s a new space for telecoms and businesses to collaborate and create solutions. This week’s guest is Steve Canepa. He’s IBM’s Global General Manager for the Communication Sector. He and his team help telecom providers think beyond spectru...

Culture, Diversity, and Workforce Development. They sound like corporate buzz-speak. And it’s true that some companies only pay them lip service. But for the workplaces that understand, embrace, and implement them, they form the foundation of a strong, stable, and successful company. Jay Brown, CEO of Crown Castle, talks about how Crown’s focus on each of these have made it a coveted place to work...

What does employee engagement really mean? Our guest this week, Rick Gallagos, CEO of Dale Carnegie Tampa Bay, describes it as “discretionary effort.” An engaged employee goes beyond the bare requirements of their job. Unfortunately for most companies, less than 1/3 of employees are engaged—that’s shockingly low!!! Which means around 70% of employees are on the disengaged spectrum. The merely dise...

Have you heard that tower climbers will jump to a company for even the smallest increase in pay? It’s not necessarily true. What is true is companies are under a lot of pressure to get antennas installed. It’s also true that there’s a shortage of tower climbers to do the work. The industry is trying to fix the latter but, for the near future, the reality is not going to change. So, what can compan...

Do you have a talent shortfall? Open spots that you just can’t fill? The workforce shortage and its impact on the race to 5G is a regular discussion topic in the industry. If you’re feeling the pain of too much work and not enough workers, maybe you’re missing (or dismissing) a large segment of the American workforce. In the next few years, 35% of our workforce will be 50 or older. And 8% of them—...