Light Reading Podcasts

On this episode, we hear from Blair Levin, who oversaw the creation of the National Broadband Plan under President Barack Obama and served as FCC Chairman Reed Hundt's chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, as well as Clint Odom, senior vice president of policy and advocacy at the National Urban League.Earlier this year, the National Urban League put forth the Lewis Latimer Plan for Digital Equity & Inclusion, outlining steps toward ending the digital divide and creating a more equitable and inclusive society in the US.We discuss the goals of the plan, which include deploying networks everywhere, overcoming the significant adoption gap, using networks to improve the delivery of essential services and creating new economic opportunities in the digital economy – and how the National Urban League and others are working with policy makers at the federal level to advance this agenda. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, we hear from Bruce McClelland, CEO of Ribbon Communications, about his company's work with broadband service providers in the rural US.McClelland says he took advantage of this last year of lockdown to reach out to policymakers in Washington, DC, and local reps at the state level, to "gauge tone" on rural broadband. We talk about his takeaways from those conversations, as well as the challenging economics around expanding broadband in hard-to-reach areas, why he's enthusiastic about the outcome of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The King of Cable, aka Alan Breznick, returns to host the 14th year of Light Reading's Cable Next-Gen Technologies & Strategies event on April 28-29. While this year's event will be virtual, Breznick and his fellow cable industry experts will cover an array of topics including 10G, DOCSIS 3.1 and 4.0, DAA, Wi-Fi 6, fiber deployments and more.Breznick joins Light Reading's Phil Harvey and Kelsey Ziser on the podcast to discuss which topics will be covered during the event and provide insight into challenges and business opportunities facing the cable industry. One conundrum facing cable operators is whether there's a future in pay-TV or if the real revenue lies in streaming services."One big question is whether cable TV will stay a big pay-TV player and how that will happen," says Breznick. "Traditional pay-TV is going by the wayside and a lot of operators are exiting or downplaying the business and trying to make the pivot to be a streaming player and the aggregator of streaming services." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, we hear from Kostas Kastanis, deputy CEO of Upstream – a mobile technology company that works with providers to offer affordable and secure access to Internet services, primarily in emerging markets.Our conversation focuses on Upstream's work in Africa, where its service Zero-D offers free Internet access through an ad-supported model. Kastanis says this works especially well in countries like Nigeria where 1 gig of data costs more than an average day's pay. We discuss how Zero-D works for users and providers, and other ways to solve the unique challenges to delivering and accessing the Internet in Africa. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Light Reading podcast welcomes Gabriel Brown, Heavy Reading's principal analyst, mobile networks and 5G, to preview some of the discussions and topics that will be part of the 5G Next Wave Digital Symposium.The symposium will be moderated by Brown, along with Jim Hodges, chief analyst, Heavy Reading, and it will feature speakers from Swisscom, Anritsu, Red Hat, 5G Americas, Telus and more.As the 5G network goes from a 4G enhancement to a true, standalone next-gen network, the prospect of additional network investment and more immersive services is on the horizon as technologies like 5G core, edge cloud and network slicing take hold. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

MNJ Technologies COO Ben Niernberg returns to the Light Reading podcast to discuss predictions for growth in the MPLS and SD-WAN markets.According to a recent Avant Communications report, over 60% of enterprises plan to increase or significantly increase their SD-WAN usage this year and 59% plan to increase MPLS usage in 2021.Niernberg shares his perspective on these results, explaining that enterprises' plan to increase SD-WAN usage wasn't a surprise to him since the technology is "well past the early adoption phase." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, we hear from Claude Aiken, president and CEO of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA), which represents the wireless Internet service provider industry, covering an estimated 6 million customers.We discuss the role of fixed wireless technology versus fiber when it comes to ending the divide in rural and hard-to-reach areas, how WISPs have kept people connected during the pandemic and the organization's policy priorities under the Biden administration. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of the Executive Spotlight Q&A features Plume Co-founder and CEO Fahri Diner, a veteran telecom entrepreneur and investor that Light Reading has covered for several years. In this interview, we discuss Plume's origins, why it exists, and what technology advantage the company has in the market.We also talk about Plume's recent $270 million funding round, a massive Series E round that brings the company's valuation to $1.35 billion and its total equity funding to date to $397 million. Diner discusses the reason behind the funding, what Plume will invest in next and how it addresses some of the most impactful trends happening in the connectivity and smart home space.The Executive Spotlight Q&A is a sponsored Light Reading audio production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of The Divide, we hear from Judge JD Clark of Wise County, Texas and Councilmember Craig Rice of Montgomery County, Maryland – co-chairs of the National Association of Counties (NACo) Broadband Task Force. The task force, formed in October 2020, is a coalition of nearly three dozen county government officials from across the US studying the country's digital divide and the challenges facing underserved communities.We discuss what the task force hopes to achieve, why FCC mapping needs an overhaul, why broadband should be treated as a utility and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Light Reading Senior Editor Jeff Baumgartner joins the podcast to discuss the state of streaming video services and why they're eating away at pay-TV subscriber numbers. He also discusses new streaming services such as Paramount+, whether live sports can keep pay-TV alive, and what other features are keeping pay-TV subscribers from cutting the cord. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.