Light Reading Podcasts

On this episode, we're joined by Elizabeth Page, national sales director at  Ribbon Communications ; and Aaron Young, chief operating officer at  Tri-Co Connections , a fiber broadband provider in rural Pennsylvania powered by Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative, and a customer of Ribbon's. We discuss why, how and when Tri-Co started deploying broadband to its service area and the stat...

Light Reading's Mike Dano joins the podcast to discuss Dish Network's 5G-focused  analyst day event . Dano explains analysts' reactions to Dish's business projections, what Dish has planned for the retail space and for enterprise private wireless customers, the launch of Boost Infinite and more. Sign up today for the Light Reading newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...

In this podcast, Diane Christman, new CEO of The Cable Center, digs into the genesis, purpose and takeaways of the organization's first annual Intrapreneurship & Innovation Report , and offers a look ahead to this year's Cable Hall of Fame event in New York. Sign up today for the Light Reading newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode features Rachel Mukai Stark, smart cities program manager for the city of Charlotte, North Carolina ; and Bruce Clark, executive director for the Center for Digital Equity at Queen's University of Charlotte. We discuss how broadband access in Charlotte has changed over the years, what's causing the digital divide and the city's roadmap to closing it, the importance of connecting commu...

Omdia Principal Analyst Pablo Tomasi returns to the podcast with an update on the industry's progress in deploying private 5G networks. He explains why there's a land grab for logos and how the rush to identify partners in this space could present new challenges in the future. "You need to ensure your long-term view and the long-term view of your partners is well aligned," Tomasi says. "At the mom...

Light Reading's Mike Dano joins the podcast to discuss recent pricing changes by T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T. Dano explains why some service providers are increasing the price of mobile and fixed wireless services while others are announcing new deals for consumers, and what this means for the broader industry. Related posts: T-Mobile ports 'uncarrier' playbook to FWA AT&T's price increase...

This episode features John Putnam, director of UniCity – the smart city division at Cincinnati Bell, now known as Altafiber . We discuss UniCity's 3,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots and how the division engages partners on providing connectivity and digital training services across its service areas in Northern Kentucky, and Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio. Sign up today for the Light Reading newsletter. Hos...

Light Reading's Jeff Baumgartner joins the podcast with a recap of the NAB show in Las Vegas. During the show, Jeff says there were discussions around the ATSC 3.0 standard for broadcast TV, latency concerns for live TV and streaming services, and he was able to attend an 8K video demo. Sign up today for the Light Reading newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yellowstone Fiber , a nonprofit open access fiber network,  broke ground in March  to deliver fiber throughout the city of Bozeman, Montana. Formerly known as Bozeman Fiber, Yellowstone Fiber is now operating in partnership with  Utopia Fiber , an open access network based in Utah. Greg Metzger, CEO of Yellowstone Fiber, and Kim McKinley, CMO and deputy director of Utopia Fiber, joi...

Light Reading's Iain Morris joins the podcast to discuss  Elon Musk's offer to buy Twitter for $43 billion . Morris explains Musk's potential motives behind purchasing Twitter, what it might look like if he goes through with taking ownership of the social media outlet, and what impact that could have on Twitter's future revenues and profits. Sign up today for the Light Reading newsletter. Hos...

In this episode, we hear from Sam Pratt, CEO of  Render Networks , a provider of geospatial network construction technology. Founded in Australia, Render is primarily focused on building networks in the US and is currently active across 12 states. We discuss Render's recent announcement that its network construction technology has helped connect over 1 million premises to fiber – and what tha...

Light Reading's Mike Dano joins the podcast to discuss his trip to the  Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) show , why T-Mobile had a presence at a show typically attended by Tier 2 operators and why smaller carriers are investing in 5G. He also explains what these smaller service providers have planned for funding from the federal government's infrastructure deal, and why they're showing...

Basil Alwan,  CEO of Tarana Wireless , joins the podcast to discuss Tarana's approach to fixed wireless access (FWA) and why its technology is unique. Alwan, a startup veteran who most recently ran Nokia's IP/Optical business, also weighs in on how Tarana's gear can help lessen the digital divide and why some of the company's customers are having WTF moments about FWA. In our conversation, we...

Juniper Networks CEO Rami Rahim catches up with Light Reading just a couple of months following Juniper's acquisition of WiteSand, a pioneer of cloud-native, zero-trust network access control solutions. In the podcast, we discuss what that string of buzzwords means and why the acquisition fits in nicely with Mist Systems, which brought a wireless LAN to Juniper, along with the ability to use AI to...

In this episode, we hear from Matt Polka, CEO of ACA Connects , a trade association representing small and midsize independent service providers since 1993. We discuss broadband access in the service areas represented by ACA Connects, as well as a recent letter Polka sent to the NTIA's Alan Davidson regarding the final rules for the NTIA's $42.45 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (or...

This week, we hear from Rhode Island State Representative Deborah Ruggiero. Rep. Ruggiero  made some news  when Cox Communications announced that it would invest $120 million to build fiber and expand its network in the state – prompting the representative and her colleagues to release a statement about the incumbent's years of underinvestment. She joins the podcast to discuss...

Robert Blumofe, EVP and CTO at Akamai, said his company's recent acquisition of Linode, combined with Akamai's content delivery and security capabilities, "creates a full spectrum of compute capabilities that modern applications really depend on." That full spectrum includes an array of services "from edge computing, to core cloud computing and everything in between, because it's not a one size fi...

Globalstar's Vice President of IoT, David Haight, discusses Globalstar's ambitions for IoT growth and more productive partnerships with telecom service providers around the world.  Haight talks about why partnerships with carriers makes sense – there is a lot of overlap in the customers each industry is chasing – and the timing for new two-way IoT modules that can allow for customers to get m...

In January, the island state Tonga's  Internet connection  went dark for five weeks. The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai undersea volcano cut Tonga's only international cable, its main domestic inter-island link. Brian Lavallée, senior director of submarine network solutions for Ciena, joins the podcast to explain why this particular severing of an undersea cable had such an im...

Before it was torn down and transformed into yet another Starbucks, an Alcatel-Lucent lab in midtown Raleigh, North Carolina, was where Nokia's David Eckard and his team worked on the initial iterations of broadband, PON and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) technologies. Eckard's team was relegated to the loading dock while peers in the main building focused on DSL. But as is the case in the telecom and t...

Cheri Beranek, CEO of  Clearfield  – a provider of optical fiber management and connectivity platforms for ISPs – returns to the show to discuss the state of the fiber industry and the supply chain's impact on broadband deployments. We also discuss why Clearfield supports heterogeneous networks, forthcoming federal funding and the company's efforts in workforce training. Sign up today fo...

Igino Cafiero, CEO of Bear Flag Robotics, which John Deere acquired in 2021, joins the podcast to discuss how the companies have come together to develop and deploy autonomous tractor technologies. Bear Flag Robotics got its start operating autonomous tractors as-a-service to farmers by installing their cameras, sensors and on-board computers on John Deere tractors. "That connectivity part is supe...

This sponsored episode of the Executive Spotlight Q&A features Keith Habberfield, executive VP of sales and marketing at Precision Optical Transceivers (OT). In this interview, he talks about Precision OT as a company and how it continues to consistently develop new technologies in integrated photonics, electronics and software. Sign up today for the Light Reading newsletter. Hosted on Acast....

Juliet Fink Yates, digital inclusion manager at the  Office of Innovation and Technology for the city of Philadelphia , joins the show to discuss what's causing the digital divide in Philadelphia and which programs are making the biggest differences. We also discuss the city's new Digital Equity Plan and what Philly needs from public and private partners to achieve its goals. Sign up today fo...

Light Reading's Mike Dano joins the podcast to explain what the " splinternet " is, the upsides and downsides to a splinternet, the geopolitical implications and what it means for the broader industry. Related stories: Preparing for the splinternet Sign up today for the Light Reading newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.