In this episode, we hear from Sam Sanders, founder CEO of Uprise Fiber . Uprise was launched two years ago on the West Coast by a group of telecom industry vets eager to use their expertise to provide communities with a new, better, and more affordable Internet option. We discuss how Uprise addresses typical problems people have with their ISPs, as well as the company's model of partnering with developers and leveraging existing fiber, and how Uprise seeks to build digital equity into broadband ...
Sep 16, 2021•27 min
Windstream CMO Mike Flannery joins the podcast to discuss why enterprises didn't deploy SD-WAN as widely as the industry anticipated they would at the start of the pandemic. Flannery explains how concerns around cost and ease of use stalled SD-WAN deployments for remote workers, but the tide is changing as remote access tools improve and enterprises budget for a long-term distributed workforce. "Organizations still had quite a bit of their overhead tied up in physical locations and networking se...
Sep 16, 2021•23 min
Light Reading's editors are in the middle of judging the 2021 Leading Lights Awards and this is the first in a three-part podcast series discussing the Leading Lights finalists. On this podcast, Light Reading's Phil Harvey, Kelsey Ziser and Mike Dano discuss trends they're seeing, what's happening in the awards categories that they're judging and what they've learned from the contest entries as they dig in and prepare to announce this year's winners. The categories covered in this podcast includ...
Sep 15, 2021•25 min
Marc Price, CTO of Matrixx Software, joins the podcast to explain how operators can rethink traditional mobile pricing models for 5G services. Price recently spoke at Light Reading's BIG 5G Event to discuss new monetization opportunities and the benefits of an open cloud-native network core for 5G. Price explains how Matrixx is supporting Visible, the MVNO run by Verizon, and why that approach fits a growing market that wants customer service on completely different terms. "It's much more like t...
Sep 14, 2021•30 min
Light Reading's Jeff Baumgartner and Mike Dano join Phil Harvey to recap the Big 5G Event and discuss what has happened lately with in-person events, what seems to be working well as folks start traveling more and how things could be just a little bit better in these "new normal" times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 14, 2021•25 min
The private wireless networking trend has been a hot-button issue in the global wireless industry for months now. The notion, after all, is tantalizing: What if software and equipment vendors could sell their networking wares to enterprises, utilities, ports and other such customers in addition to wireless network operators? Already, some vendors believe the space is showing signs of maturity. "Private 5G is really taking off," said Todd Krautkremer, CMO of private networking equipment vendor Cr...
Sep 14, 2021•6 min
Massimo Peselli, SVP of Global Enterprise for Verizon Business, provides insight into how the pandemic has changed the way "enterprises consume the network." "Over the last 18 months we developed this concept of network-as-a-service, which is our response to cloudification of the application," says Peselli. "It's basically a concept where customers are consuming the network on a consumption-based model." Peselli explains how customers can utilize Verizon's cloud to reduce the hardware needed to ...
Sep 14, 2021•12 min
John Deere's Kiel Ronning provides some fresh insight into how 5G-powered private networks are weaving their way into smart manufacturing, enabling the company to take advantage of low latencies, speed and other important performance metrics that make factories run more efficiently and flexibly. Ronning also considers how private networks will play into John Deere's short- and long-term plans and how the company can integrate IoT devices into private network environments. "We think this is a key...
Sep 13, 2021•7 min
Last week's telecom news highlights included more trouble for Norwegian operator Telenor as it moves away from Myanmar. We also muse about the changing shape of Verizon's deal with the NFL and why 5G networks are still struggling to prove their worth to consumers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 13, 2021•3 min
Mo Katibeh, SVP of network infrastructure and build for AT&T, examines several new use cases for how the service provider is addressing the 5G customer experience for both consumers and enterprises. "In 2020, we achieved 200 million people, or PoPs, covered with our sub-6GHz 5G, and across the last year we've been able to expand that out from 200 to 250 million people across 500 markets, so very broad availability," said Katibeh. Katibeh also speaks to AT&T's efforts to close the digital...
Sep 10, 2021•9 min
On this episode, we hear from Eric Frank, CEO of LightBox – a real estate information and technology platform – on his company's just-released nationwide Internet connectivity map , revealing that roughly 60 million Americans are disconnected. That number far exceeds the FCC's most recent estimate of 14.5 million. We discuss the various data sources that went into producing LightBox's map, what it tells us about the bigger picture of the digital divide in the US, and how LightBox hopes to use it...
Sep 09, 2021•14 min
Jennifer Artley, SVP of Strategic Initiatives for Verizon Business, catches up with Light Reading after her keynote on Verizon's private 5G network deployment at the Port of Southampton, the UK's largest port. Southampton struggled to provide reliable Wi-Fi onsite and partnered with Verizon and Nokia to become the first mainland UK port with access to a 5G network. The UK port now uses 3.7GHz spectrum, which is similar to the midband C-band in the US. In addition, the network spans seven transmi...
Sep 09, 2021•4 min
One of the FCC's former commissioners believes that Congress is poised to quickly approve around $65 billion in infrastructure spending on broadband in the US. However, he cautioned that telecom industry executives may have to wait for a year or more before they can expect to receive a portion of that funding. "We're weeks away from something passing," Mike O'Rielly, a former FCC commissioner who is now principal at MPORielly Consulting, said. But he said the money contained in that legislation ...
Sep 09, 2021•11 min
Gordon Mansfield, AT&T's vice president of converged access and device technology, joined us here to offer an update on the company's deployment of a 5G standalone core and the anticipated benefits that will come from it. Mansfield also shed more light on AT&T's C-band spectrum deployment, the company's plans for open RAN and how AT&T's fiber buildout fits in with the company's network and service convergence strategy. This interview was recorded at the Big 5G Event in Denver. Hosted...
Sep 08, 2021•13 min
Boingo CTO Derek Peterson provides an update on the company's partnerships with service providers on 5G deployments and how Boingo is supporting contactless experiences at airports. In addition, Peterson shares Boingo's approach to private networks and offers a sneak peek on his panel about virtualizing the 5G core. This interview was recorded at the Big 5G Event in Denver. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 08, 2021•6 min
Sidd Chenumolu, Dish Network's vice president of technology development, offers an update on the company's national 5G network buildout and what Dish hopes to learn as it moves ahead with its first 5G service deployment in Las Vegas. Chenumolu also illuminates why Dish is a big proponent of open RAN, why interoperability is critical, and how Dish is positioning itself as the prime system integrator for its ambitious 5G network rollout. This interview was recorded during the Big 5G Event 2021 in ...
Sep 08, 2021•10 min
Lumen's Mike Benjamin joins the podcast to discuss the recent ReverseRAT update, a malware scheme that was used to target government and energy-sector organizations in India and Afghanistan. Benjamin and his team at Lumen's security research division, Black Lotus Labs, have been closely following the Remote Access Trojan (RAT) threat. The new iteration ReverseRAT web camera access and the ability to steal files via USB drives, explains Benjamin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...
Sep 07, 2021•18 min
Stephen Stokols, the Dish Network executive in charge of the company's growing camp of mobile brands, said Dish might not be done buying mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). This interview was recorded at the Big 5G Event in Denver on September 1. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 02, 2021•8 min
In this episode, we hear from Wanda Tankersley, chief operating officer (COO) at MTA (or Matanuska Telecom Association) , a telecommunications co-op in Alaska. We discuss the unique middle-mile challenges to providing broadband in a rural and rugged state like Alaska, as well as the company's AlCan ONE project, the first all-terrestrial fiber line connecting Alaska to the Lower 48. We also get into MTA's recent efforts to connect students to high-speed Internet, the impact of supply chain and la...
Sep 02, 2021•19 min
This podcast will explore some of the key trends driving telecommunications networks, the challenges and opportunities for network operators, and how new innovations in optical transmission technology are helping to move the industry forward and enable exciting new services. This podcast is sponsored by Infinera. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 29, 2021•15 min
On this episode, we hear from Jennifer Alvarez, Co-founder and CEO, Aurora Insight , a company that measures the availability of spectrum and wireless networks in the rural US and abroad; as well as David Hartshorn, CEO of Geeks Without Frontiers , a nonprofit organization working to address the digital divide globally. The two organizations have recently formed a partnership to tackle the lack of reliable wireless broadband in underserved parts of the US and abroad. We discuss the details and g...
Aug 26, 2021•19 min
Verizon's Terrance Robinson joins the podcast to share key findings from the service provider's Mobile Security Index . In addition, Robinson shares insights about which mobile security threats are on the rise, and how enterprises and their employees can identify and address potential threats. The full report can be downloaded here . "We're seeing over a 360% year-over-year increase in phishing attempts on mobile devices," says Robinson. Bad actors are increasingly targeting text messages in the...
Aug 24, 2021•25 min
Last week's telecom news highlights included all the damage , and damage control , surrounding T-Mobile's recent hack and data breach. We also ponder why cable operators are suddenly very popular mobile service providers and whether smaller cable operators will join the fray. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Aug 23, 2021•3 min
On this episode, we hear from Dr. Tamarah Holmes, director of the Office of Broadband for the state of Virginia . Since the office was established in 2019, Dr. Holmes says Virginia has successfully closed half of its digital divide. Recently, the state's Governor Ralph Northam announced plans to invest $700 million in federal relief money toward achieving universal broadband access over the next three years. Dr. Holmes and I discuss how Virginia has been able to address connectivity needs throug...
Aug 19, 2021•17 min
Last week's telecom news highlights included some M&A speculation involving Reliance Jio and T-Mobile Netherlands. We also covered the new roaming fees that are now summering in the UK. Finally, don't look up now but we have another satellite story – this one discusses SpaceX's decision to buy Swarm, a company that operates around 100 microsatellites providing IoT connectivity. Here are the stories we mentioned in the podcast: SpaceX buys IoT company Swarm amid heightened space competition S...
Aug 18, 2021•4 min
Verizon's Suzanne Widup joins the podcast to provide insight into cybersecurity trends and share key findings from the service provider's annual Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR). The full report can be downloaded here . As the senior principal threat intel analyst for Verizon and co-author of the DBIR, Widup has her finger on the pulse of hackers' evolving efforts to undermine network security via phishing attacks, ransomware and social engineering. "We've seen tremendous growth in our d...
Aug 12, 2021•21 min
On this episode, we hear from Prashanth Vijay, founder and CEO of Flume , a last-mile, dark-fiber-based home broadband service. Flume was launched in New York City in 2020 to introduce competition to the service provider market and to help bring affordable broadband to underserved areas. We discuss how Flume accesses and leverages dark fiber to deliver high-speed Internet at competitive prices, Flume's commitment to deliver broadband to New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) buildings through t...
Aug 12, 2021•14 min
Last week's telecom news highlights included an overview of Rakuten's impressively aggressive plans, a look at Telegram's rapid growth and the looming threat it presents to telcos, and a summary of the supply chain issues that broadband equipment providers are having as the pandemic has forced higher prices and longer wait times for many components and logistics services. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 09, 2021•4 min
Clearfield CEO Cheri Beranek joins the podcast to talk about how she's helped build a company that keeps growing as more and more community broadband providers deploy fiber. Clearfield classifies utilities, municipalities and small telcos as "community" providers because, as Beranek explains, they "were not having their needs met by the typical Tier 1 incumbent providers." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 06, 2021•20 min
On this episode, we hear from Anthony Goonetilleke, group president of media, network and technology at Amdocs: a software and services provider for communications and media companies.We discuss how a recent survey Amdocs conducted on broadband issues is informing the company's priorities, as well as how service providers in Amdocs' orbit are rethinking the future of connectivity in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also talk about Amdocs' work with ISPs and tech giants like T-Mobile, Micros...
Aug 06, 2021•16 min
