Notes from the field: Telling broadband's untold stories
Abby Crawford, a podcasting and marketing specialist with FiberCom Engineering, is the host of Field Notes - a podcast that introduces her audience to public and private sector leaders in the communications industry.Through her role, Crawford said she gets to lead the storytelling efforts of FiberCom Engineering, a telecom engineering firm.Crawford said one of her missions is to elevate voices that she thinks are often overlooked in broadband, energy, and infrastructure. "I just get to ask them real questions about the work that they're doing," Crawford said. "And I get to just share why it matters."
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NextLink Internet's Bet on Rural America
Ebony Cooksey says NextLink Internet has made it their mission to expand service to rural America, especially in the Heartland. As they expand, beyond fixed wireless to fiber, she said the ISP is focused on deploying "the right tool for the toolkit," depending on the needs of individual communities. In her job, Cooksey said she deals with local officials who are very interested in enhancing economic opportunity. "They know that broadband is the way to improve economic development and healthcare, and educational outcomes for those communities," she said. As part of NextLink Internet's strategy, Cooksey said the company also makes a point to be sensitive to "non-deployment concerns" in rural communities."Some of the folks are struggling," she added. "And we want to help to improve that."A new Digital Empowerment Center, run by NextLink Internet in Seward, Nebraska, is part of the company's strategy. The center gives assistance with basic digital skills, covering everything from online banking to how to send emails. According to Cooksey, the storefront in Seward used for Nextlink Internet's Digital Empowerment Center was previously empty."We're really trying to get to those digital skills," she said, while praising Nextlink Internet's partnership with Microsoft Airband.She said for some folks, digital skills may just mean being able to see photos of their grandkids online and no longer being socially isolated.
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Great Customer Service: No Longer an Option for ISPs
Mark Campagna, the CEO of gaiia, says ISPs who don't adopt software technology offerings that can help enhance efficiencies may face extinction. In this episode of Beyond the Cable, Campagna talks about how technology is evolving to help ISPs offer great customer service, something he says is a massive differentiator in a crowded marketplace.
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Blue Stream Fiber Eyes Houston’s Booming Multifamily Market
In this episode, Kate Grutzmacher, who manages community partnerships with Blue Stream Fiber as a senior vice president, joins us to discuss Houston, which is one of the fastest markets in the nation with respect to multifamily communities."When we were looking at expansion markets, we looked at Houston very hard," Grutzmacher said on a recent episode of Beyond the Cable.Houston's quick growth was a main catalyst for Blue Stream Fiber's investments in the Houston area, according to Grutzmacher.She said Houston presented a wonderful opportunity to Blue Stream Fiber, with a great market share that was available."So, it's an expanding market," she said. "It's not stopping. If anyone spends any time in Houston, the traffic is a telltale sign."
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How MDU Connectivity is Becoming More Competitive
Adlane Fellah, the chief researcher for Maravedis, says the MDU connectivity market has become attractive for companies seeking to disrupt incumbent vendors. Speaking to Beyond the Cable at Broadband Communities Summit last month in Houston, Fellah says he sees a big opportunity for brownfield deployments in the coming months and years. He said his company, a boutique research firm that provides insight on the evolution of wireless infrastructure, is also keenly interested the potential for conversions between fixed and mobile services.He said collaboration between virtual network operators (VNOs) and managed service providers (MSPs) are something we could see more of in the future.
South Africa