Broadband Action

Host Curtis Dean chats with three of the headlining speakers at the 2026 Spring Summit.--Gary Bolton, Fiber Broadband Association--Ryan Mulhall, Iowa Communications Network--Brent Legg, Connected NationJoin us April 1-3, 2026 in Ames, Iowa! https://broadbandaction.com/cban-events/cban-2026-spring-summit/

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 turns 30 years old this year. To "celebrate", CBAN talks with Sean Stokes of Keller & Heckman LLP about the origins of the Act, how it's working, and what changes are needed in today's telecommunications environment.

https://www.khlaw.com

Doug Dawson with CCG Consulting joins Curtis Dean and Jon Willow to discuss what he believes are the top 5 "turkeys" of the year in the broadband industry. Doug blogs daily at https://potsandpansbyccg.com. His "Turkey Awards" are available at https://potsandpansbyccg.com/2025/12/08/broadband-turkeys-of-2025/

BEAD is putting a lot of broadband eggs in one high-flying basket - low earth orbit satellite internet. In this edition of Broadband Action, CBAN's Curtis Dean chats with Glenn Fishbine of Breaking Point Solutions about whether LEO can deliver.

It's a holiday tradition at CBAN! Doug Dawson of CCG Consulting reveals his broadband predictions for 2026 to CBAN's Jon Willow and Curtis Dean. https://potsandpansbyccg.com

In 2010, Chattanooga's municipal utility EPB made a controversial $396 million bet on citywide fiber infrastructure. Fifteen years later, economist Dr. Bento Lobo and EPB's William Plank reveal the results in this episode of Broadband Action: $5.3 billion in economic value, 10,420 jobs created, and a 6.4x return on investment. The fiber network powers both gigabit internet and a smart grid that's prevented $632 million in storm damage. The conversation covers how municipal fiber forced competitors to improve service, connected 16,000 low-income students through digital equity programs, and why EPB is now investing $30 million in quantum computing. A masterclass in infrastructure investment with practical lessons for communities nationwide.

Read the full study here: https://static.epb.com/media/documents/Lobo-Plank_2025_-_Nov_12_2025.pdf

Curtis Dean with CBAN chats with Doug Adams of Broadband Marketers. Doug has been following the rollout of NTIA approvals for state BEAD programs for the past several weeks, and has some good insights as to what may be coming next. Be sure to check out Doug's insightful articles at www.broadband.io.www.broadbandmarketers.com

CBAN's Curtis Dean talks about the NTIA's announcement that it has approved 18 state/territory final BEAD plans, an important step forward to bringing better broadband to many Americans.https://www.ntia.gov/press-release/2025/ntia-announces-approval-18-bead-final-proposals

In this episode of Broadband Action, we discuss how broadband operators can serve their community through video coverage of community events. Curtis Dean chats with Karyn Leininger of Spencer Municipal Utilities and Monte Goodyk with Pella Fiber about their services.

In this episode of Broadband Action, host Curtis Dean explores Yuma County, Arizona's innovative approach to digital infrastructure with PJ Way, Broadband Program Manager. Way details how the county has strategically combined ARPA and local funding to construct an extensive middle mile fiber network spanning the region. The conversation highlights how this connectivity initiative particularly benefits Yuma's agricultural sector, enabling farmers to implement precision agriculture technologies that optimize crop production while significantly reducing resource consumption—especially critical water usage in this arid region. Dean and Way discuss how this digital transformation represents not just technological progress but a sustainable path forward for rural agricultural communities facing resource challenges.https://www.yumacountyaz.gov

CBAN's Curtis Dean wakes up long enough to record this episode of Broadband Action with co-founder Jon Will to preview the CBAN/IAMU 2025 Spring Summit in Ames, Iowa on April 22-23, 2025.

On this edition of Broadband Action, CBAN’s Jon Willow chats with Christa Vinson and Joshua Williams with Rural LISC. Rural LISC believes that in a resilient rural community, digital access means affordable, reliable broadband internet, widely available internet-enabled computer technology and digital skill supports that meet user needs. Achieving this goal requires intentional strategies and investments to reduce and eliminate barriers to access and use technology. Jon, Christa, and Joshua chat about the work of the organization, including their Broadband Planning Help Hub.Rural LISChttps://www.lisc.org/Broadband Planning Help Hubwww.broadbandplanninghelphub.org

The Universal Service Fund has played a huge role in getting Americans connected, first with telephone service and later with broadband. But legal challenges to the USF could put the program in jeopardy. In this episode of Broadband Action, we chat with Christopher Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Sean Stokes with Keller & Heckman LLP.

https://communitynets.org

https://www.khlaw.com

In this episode of Broadband Action, the CBAN podcast welcomes Alan Fitzpatrick, who shares valuable insights from his work with Open Broadband in the Carolinas. The discussion delves into Open Broadband's innovative approach to connecting underserved communities through a technology-agnostic strategy. Fitzpatrick explains how his company evaluates each customer's unique situation to determine the most effective connectivity solution, whether it's fiber optics, fixed wireless, cellular networks, or satellite service.Links:Open Broadband: https://openbb.netPower & Tel, CBAN Broadband Backer and Spring Forum Showcase Sponsor: https://www.ptsupply.com

In our final addition of Broadband Action for 2024, Curtis Dean visits with Brad Randall, editor at Total Telecom, as par of our "Covering the Broadband Beat" series. Randall shares his perspectives as a journalist covering the broadband industry and discusses some of the top broadband stories of the year.

A Broadband Action favorite! Curtis Dean and Jon Willow chat with Doug Dawson of CCG Consulting, whose annual predictions edition of his Pots and Pans blog is a must-read among industry professionals. What do the next 12 months have in store for broadband? The almighty sage soothsayer, omnipotent visionary from the East, Doug Dawson will tell us what to expect!

What will be the impact of the (once and future) Donald Trump administration on broadband policy in the US? CBAN's Curtis Dean and Sean Stokes with Keller and Heckman LLP discuss possible changes to BEAD, the Universal Service Fund, FCC initiatives, and more. https://www.khlaw.com

CBAN's Curtis Dean provides an overview of the Broadband Communities Summit West held in San Diego, CA on October 30-31, 2024. Thank you to our sponsor ImOn Communications for supporting our trip to BBC Summit West! https://www.imon.net

Getting digital devices into the hands of people who need them is a vital need in digital equity work. In this episode, we chat with two nonprofit organizations that are helping close the digital divide through device recycling, refurbishment, and distribution. Ashley Smith, E2D https://www.e-2-d.org Padric Gleason, Human I-T https://www.human-i-t.org

The latest edition of Broadband Action, the CBAN podcast, is now available for viewing or listening! CBAN's Jon Willow chats with Ry Marcattilio from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) about a new map of community networks across the U.S. The map, updated with a new engine and user interface, tracks publicly owned broadband networks, including municipal, cooperative, and tribal models. It features various filters for business models, network characteristics, and population sizes, with 400 municipal networks serving over 700 communities. The map aims to help communities find similar networks and solutions for their broadband needs. Future enhancements include exporting raw data and adding technology filters. Links: Community Networks (Institute for Local Self-Reliance): https://communitynets.org ILSR Broadband Map: https://communitynets.org/content/community-network-map Join CBAN and become part of the conversation and the community! https://broadbandaction.com/join-cban/

The Broadband Communities Summit West happens at the end of October. In this edition of Broadband Action, we chat with one of the event organizers, Brad Randall. We also chat with Jim Baller with Keller and Heckman LLP, a CBAN Broadband Backer. Baller and his team will lead one of the session tracks at BBC Summit West. Links: BBC West Agenda: https://www.terrapinn.com/conference/broadband-communities-west/agenda.stm CBAN 20% discount code for BBC Summit West attendees: https://bit.ly/CBAN20BBC Keller and Heckman LLP: https://www.khlaw.com

Hosts Jon Willow and Curtis Dean provide a sneak peak at the upcoming 2024 CBAN Fall Forum in West Des Moines, Iowa on October 10th. The event will also be streamed live for online attendees. Curtis chats with Dr. Christopher Ali, the Summit keynote, about his message to attendees.

To learn more about the event and to register for the 2024 CBAN Fall Forum at https://bit.ly/24fallforum

On this episode of Broadband Action, we turn our attention to a small island in Lake Michigan with big broadband challenges. Beaver Island, Michigan leaders have been trying for years to create a solution to inferior broadband by getting a fiber network built. CBAN's Curtis Dean and Jon Willow visit with two of Beaver Island's broadband champions, Dick Mulvhill and Kevin Boyle, to learn more about their journey toward better broadband.

CBAN's Curtis Dean shares his perspectives on Fiber Connect 2024, one of the broadband industry'a major events. Over 5,000 people attended this event in Nashville, TN hosted by the Fiber Broadband Association (a CBAN Advocate Member). Curtis discussed the event, the venue, and some of the news that dropped while industry leaders were assembled.

In this episode of Broadband Action, CBAN's Jon Willow and Curtis Dean talk with Karl Bode, a journalist who's been covering broadband for 25 years. Karl shares his perspective on the big issues facing the broadband industry and some insight on what further changes may be coming.

In an interview borrowed from a CBAN Member Spotlight, Curtis Dean with CBAN chats with Justin Stinson of Liberty Communications, a community focused broadband provider in Iowa. Liberty has been very proactive in not only improving services to their traditional customer base but expanding to new areas in need of better broadband service.

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, also known as BEAD, is slowly inching toward implementation. The access portion of BEAD, which is where most of the money will be spent, has the stated goal of achieving universal broadband availability across the nation. The BEAD framework is currently being interpreted by each state to develop their own action plan.

Recently ACA Connects, which represents smaller cable and broadband operators, released a national overview of the BEAD program and has some recommendations to be considered as BEAD moves forward. Our guest today on Broadband Action is Brian Hurley, Chief Regulatory Counsel at ACA Connects.

CBAN is a big supporter of community-owned broadband networks, as well as private providers with strong community roots. So we were excited to read a recent report by our friends at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance which outlined just how much the municipal broadband community has grown in recent years and just how far we’ve gone since the early days of maverick municipal networks like Glasgow, Kentucky, which was the first publicly owned network to offer internet service.

Our guests on this edition of Broadband Bytes were both involved with putting together the ILSR’s report. Welcome Sean Gonsalves and Ry Marcatillio!

In the latest edition of of Broadband Action, we’ll explore the relationship between higher education and Esports. Co-hosts Jon Willow and Curtis Dean chat with Jason Clark, one of the founders of the Collegiate Fighting Game Conference, to discuss how epsports competition serves the larger role of engaging young people in educational institutions to compete and learn.

An unprecedented amount of network construction has been take place over the past few years as the nation works to try to bring better broadband to more Americans. And that pace of construction will only accelerate over the next several years as the BEAD program subsidizes new networks in unserved and underserved areas.
Many of those new fiber networks will be installed underground. But while the process of burying conduit and cables is fairly straightforward, there’s a hidden crisis affecting the deployment of these networks - a shortage of qualified, well-trained workforce to do the necessary job of locating existing underground utilities to hopefully prevent crews from damaging those faciities. This “locate crisis” is being felt around the country, and in the latest episode of Broadband Action, we discuss how it is impacting the work of the engineers that design the networks, the construction companies that build the networks, and the broadband providers who need that network completed in a timely basis to provide services to a hungry consumer base.

Hosts Curtis Dean and Todd Kielkopf are joined by Ronnie Marler with NewCom Technologies, Greg Hinz with Fort Dodge Fiber, and Brett Niles with Open Country

Doug Dawson of CCG Consulting has dusted off his crystal ball and for the third year in a row shares is Broadband Predictions with the Broadband Action team. Will BEAD solve the nation's broadband problems? Will the ACP survive? Doug shares his predictions on these and other important topics!

Door County, Wisconsin is one of the most picturesque areas of America. The county occupies a peninsula jutting between Green Bay and Lake Michigan. And like many rural areas, broadband is not available in many locations.

After years of local efforts in the individual towns of Door County, a joint county broadband committee was formed, and a full-time broadband coordinator was hired. In this episode, we talk with Door County Broadband Coordinator Jessica Hatch and Hugh Zettel, Chair of the Door County Broadband Committee, to discuss the planning work they are doing now to prepare the County for BEAD funding to fill broadband gaps.

The busy holiday shopping season is upon us, and many Americans will be doing much of their shopping online. In this episode, CBAN Digital Navigator Brianna Dillavou has some tips to stay safe while shopping the online sales!

Getting broadband to the the millions of Americans who are unserved or underserved is a huge lift. Billions of dollars are flowing from the federal government to states for grant programs to subsidize the construction of broadband networks, mostly fiber networks, to reach underserved and unserved homes and businesses. Yet when the smoke clears and all the coming BEAD funds have been exhausted, it is expected that millions of Americans will still not have access to fast, reliable, affordable broadband service. In this episode of Broadband Action, we'll talk about more immediate ways to provide broadband in hard-to-reach areas. Our guests are Justin Stinson with Liberty Communications; Alex Freylekhman with Telrad; and Cassie Bair with Mobile Citizen.

One of the great promises of broadband is the ability to deliver health care services to rural Americans. In this episode of Broadband Action, we visit with Scott Raymond and David Cloyed of Nebraska Medicine at the University of Nebraska in Omaha for their views on the challenges and opportunities of telehealth.

Fiber optic networks have evolved over the past 25 years. The technology has evolved to meet the growing needs of bandwidth. The economics have evolved to lower costs of deployment. And providers have evolved their thinking and, for the most part, embraced fiber as the gold standard for broadband.

In this episode of Broadband Action, we visit with Heather Gold, who has enjoyed a front row seat in the evolution of fiber. Now serving as Vice President of External Affairs at Mears Group, Gold will share her perspectives from 20+ years in the broadband industry.

Young adults are often referred to as "digital natives" because they've had access to digital devices their entire lives. However, this term fails to account for the fact that many young adults have limited abilities to use digital devices for learning or work. In this episode, we talk with Don Michael, Digital Literacy Specialist for Piedmont Community College in North Carolina, who works with incoming students to help round out their digital skills to make them ready for success.

A key element of digital equity efforts is getting the right devices into the hands of people who need them. In this episode, Jon Willow and Curtis Dean with CBAN chat with Karisa Tashjian, Director of Programs at Digitunity, a non-profit that advocates for device ownership.

In this episode of Broadband Action, we chat with Deborah Simpier, CEO of Althea. Althea is an Internet Service Provider (ISP) platform and blockchain that enables the coordination of multi-stakeholder networks. Althea decouples the service and infrastructure layers of Internet delivery and coordinates transparent and programmatic revenue sharing.
Using Althea’s platform, networks can be built faster and more economically than ever before.
Althea’s flexible payment structure opens new markets and supports new entrants into the market, by enabling them to capitalize on underutilized bandwidth and real estate.

In this episode of Broadband Action, CBAN's Curtis Dean discusses how cable companies are working to fend off the threat from fiber by implementing new technologies that allow higher download and speeds over coaxial networks. Curtis also talks about how many fiber providers are beginning to offer multi-gigabit speed tiers.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) has already helped millions of Americans get online through a monthly subsidy for internet service. However, adoption has been slow in many locations, and nationwide only 41 percent of eligible households have utilized the program. In this episode of Broadband Action, we visit with Sean Gonsolves and Ry Marcattilio with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, which has created an ACP Dashboard to track enrollment in the ACP and how fast the available funds are being used.

Doug Dawson with CCG Consulting is one of the broadband industry's true thought leaders. For the second year in a row, Doug joins Curtis Dean with CBAN to look into his crystal ball for some broadband predictions for 2023. Check out Pots and Pans, Doug's blog, for more topics of interest!

One of the biggest challenges with deploying the over $42 billion in funding under the BEAD program is making sure we have accurate broadband maps. Many industry experts are skeptical that the FCC can get it right this time. For this episode of Broadband Bytes our guest is Sascha Meinrath, Director of the X-Lab and Palmer Chair in Telecommunications at Penn State University. He’s been collecting broadband performance data for years and discusses how the FCC is trying to recreate information that he and others have already gathered.

Voters in Waterloo, Iowa will be going to the polls on Tuesday, September 13, 2022 to vote on a bond referendum. At issue is the City’s plans to issue up to $20 million in general obligation, or GO, bonds to finance a portion of a planned fiber-to-the-home network in the northeast Iowa City of 67,000. If voters approve the bond issue - and if the network is built - it would be the largest municipal broadband utility in Iowa, edging out its neighbor to the west, Cedar Falls.

On this episode of Broadband Action we visit with Maggie Burger, Senior Vice President at Speer Financial, Inc - the city’s municipal advisor for this project.