In Bridging Together, Utilities and Broadband Partnerships are Shaping the Future of Connectivity

Hello, everyone. I'm your host, Daniel Litwin, the voice of b two b, and welcome to another episode of Wavelengths, an Amphenol Broadband Solutions podcast. Again, I'm your host, Daniel Litwin. Thanks for joining us on another episode of the show as we continue to break down the major trends, technologies, timely news, and market movers that are shaping the larger broadband industry. And today's conversation is no different. We're gonna be digging into the weeds on really exciting new sort of frontier for the larger broadband industry, which, you know, when I say new, it's not necessarily that this is the first time we're seeing collaboration between these two parties, as I'll explain here in a little bit. But it's the new frontier of a a a more matured and expanded collaboration with and synergy with the larger utilities ecosystem. So how are energy and Internet starting to, merge philosophically and structurally in some ways too as we see major trends of modernization, industry four point o, digitalization, and more shaping, both the utility sector and the broadband sector. Before we get into today's topic, though, make sure you're heading to our website for previous conversations. We've been going at it with Wavelengths for quite a while now. It's been an honor sitting in the hot seat here and getting to interview professionals from across the industry and hosting some really important debates and discussions. If you wanna tap into those conversations and get caught up on previous episodes of Wavelengths, you can head to amphenol broadband dot com. Again, that's amphenol broadband dot com. You can also find Wavelengths on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Just hit that subscribe button, and you'll have a full catalog of previous conversations as well as notifications when we drop new episodes of the show. You won't wanna miss out. Alright, team. Let's jump in. So on today's episode of Wavelengths, we're gonna be diving into the dynamic world of utilities and broadband partnerships. So as the modern energy grid undergoes significant transformation and as the, larger sort of wireless connectivity space continues to take on the challenge of five g proliferation at scale, already looking ahead at six g, the maturation and reach of Wi Fi six deployment, etcetera, etcetera. The collaboration between utilities and ISPs is now becoming more crucial than ever. And this intersection of utilities and broadband is redefining how we think about connectivity and infrastructure for both parties and at the receiving end of this collaboration. Companies are now having to navigate through the complexities of things like grid modernization, of leveraging billions in federal funding to expand broadband access, and they're having to maneuver, the need to address real time data and control, to, again, enhance grid reliability, which is another, major trend shaping the industry. So, again, this intersection of policy and technology is requiring innovative solutions and strategic partnerships to build a resilient and efficient energy grid and to help expand the reach of high quality Internet as well. And these aren't separate, movements rather, but they are sort of two sides of a a very similar coin of modernization and digitalization that's sweeping across our infrastructure. So today, we're gonna discuss some of the challenges and opportunities in this evolving landscape of collaboration between the utilities and broadband ecosystems. And we're gonna focus in on how utilities and ISPs can collaborate to support the modernization of the grid and the modernization of our, Internet infrastructure as well. We'll explore the key trends that are shaping this industry nexus, as I like to call it. And we're gonna explore the adoption of private LTE networks, the impact of federal broadband funding on this collaboration, the integration of things like advanced data sharing practices between ecosystems. And, we'll really try to answer the question here of how can these two industries, these two ecosystems work together to manage things like distributed energy resources, new infrastructure, an increase in data capture and usage. How can the industry and industries work together to engage consumers more effectively during this maturation process? And what emerging technologies are gonna be part of shaping that future of collaboration. So I know that's a lot, but let's go ahead and open up the conversation to really get into the meat of some of these trends. I'm really pleased to welcome our guest for today's podcast, mister Bill Major. He's CEO at FiberLyte. Bill, welcome. How are you today? And thanks for joining us. I'm I'm great, Daniel. Thank you very much for, having me today. Absolutely. So FiberLyte, I know, is a reliable fiber infrastructure, enterprise provider and solutions partner for the industry. Can you break down more specifically where FiberLyte fits into this ecosystem and give our audience a little more background on you as a professional as well, how your lens is gonna be, you know, colored for today's conversation, on this convergence of two very important, industries. Daniel, thank you. Again, Bill Major. I've been in the industry since, you know, mid to late nineties. Started with the nation's largest competitive local exchange carrier. I've been designing, constructing, and operating a fiber network now for, you know, my entire career, underlying provider for, you know, what you would consider a traditional competitor, right, where they don't have the existing fiber infrastructure. And then we partner up with the content providers, the web scalers, hyperscalers as you you talked about it in your opening, discussion. The collaboration between, you know, energy and communications. Well, that's more evident than ever because, again, there's still plenty of land throughout the US, but now where can these edge data centers, these core data centers go for these web scalers, to have access to reliable power? Last but not least, you talked about broadband. Right? Everybody's talking about how do we bridge that digital divide. Well, there's not enough money coming from the infrastructure act for everybody to be everything to everyone. So companies like, FiberLite are in a perfect position to enable. There's only so many, you know, feet on a pole, you know, utility that you can attach to. There's only so much room in the right way. So why are we overbuilding every single carrier when we can be an enabler? My our our go to market strategy is not to be a fiber to the home provider. We don't have the back office that can scale appropriately and provide that proper support. So let those individual organizations, companies, municipalities I love that y'all are an enterprise provider, and I really am excited to tap into this perspective here as an enterprise provider, because y'all are gonna have a different flavor of, analysis here on how you're seeing utilities and broadband space come together. So let's start to dig in there. Right? Again, as an enterprise focused fiber provider, when we talk about this collaboration between the utilities and broadband ecosystems and the increasing importance of these collaborations, you know, whether official, unofficial, or, you know, superstructural or not. Right? Even if it's more I can't think of a better word, but, like, spiritual. Right? I mean, it's not really that, but you know what I mean. Like, the sort of essence of these two industries starting to merge a little bit more. What does that look like on your end of things, right, in the enterprise fiber space? How are you seeing these two ecosystems expand their collaborative efforts? If you had to define what that collaboration even looks like today in your space, what does it look like? How would you define it? I would say it's still being defined, Daniel. Unfortunately, you know, it it it's one of those situations where competing priorities or, you know, purse call it general interest. You you brought up the point of being biopically focused on knowing our identity. Right? I wanna be really, really good at something, not okay at a whole bunch of things. So we'll we'll be an enabler, no doubt about it. And, you know, I I think it it's no different, and I I don't wanna go down the nationwide wireless side of the house right now unless you want me to. But it it's no different than the race to the small cell deployment we saw for the last ten years. Right? Everybody you know, there's this strong desire to get as many of these nodes up and and then all of a sudden, it's really dried up. And the reason is, there's other ways. Technology is constantly growing, but the problem you had was there was no, standard across the carriers. Everyone had their own radio shroud design. They could not land on a single design. The convergence is the need and the application desire has always been there. We have to get better at how do we collaborate, how do we partner, how do we leverage one another to advance before the technology advances. You know, what I mean by that is you mentioned six g. Well, let's finish five g before we go to generation six. Well, that collaboration and partnership, we have to get those personal agendas out of our way so we can facilitate quicker. So there there's a lot of that type of enabling, but but there's also the collaboration. And this is one where I think, there's better understanding and cooperation, and it's around the E rate process and use acts of, you know, the education and then libraries and, of course, health care. That that program enables those schools to get that infrastructure in place. So recently, we announced, a contract that's been awarded to us to build up in the Panhandle of Texas, with one of the, ISDs where not only are we gonna build out the infrastructure for that school for the future, but we're also enabling then edge data centers. You know, it it's going to draw attention to as we advance towards quantum learning, right, bringing the technology closer to the edge. Those types of partnerships are overlooked. But I do believe if we can start getting our arms around, how do we all win versus I win versus you win? I I I think that's part of the challenge. There's a considerable amount of effort for everybody to own the most fiber. You've brought up, infrastructure a few times. I'd love to expand on that a little bit. Right? Obviously, both the utility space and the broadband space are having to grapple with the necessity for a mass investment in new or at least renewed or revitalized infrastructure. Right? In energy, this looks like modernizing the grid. It looks like deploying new sources for clean energy, renewable energy. Right? All of the sort of discussions around what should that, power portfolio even look like. But as you've said, there may be more room for collaboration on shared infrastructure than both of these ecosystems, are acknowledging or or making a reality. And that in and of itself is a point of inefficiency as we see new infrastructure get built out, and we question, is this even the best use of those dollars? I'd love to pick at that a little bit. What are some of the ways you're seeing infrastructure become a point of either current or hopefully potential collaboration between these two ecosystems, and where should we be seeing more infrastructure collaboration between the utilities and broadband ecosystems based on their infrastructure needs, right, that are motivating these build outs in the first place? So, Daniel, you know, that's a very broad question that I'm gonna answer somewhat somewhat very, very, simply. Proper oversight in governance. Right? And what do I mean by that? So, yes, when people talk about infrastructure, they think of, you know, bridges and highways and all that. Well, you know, the grid, broadband, those are super highways to get to the Internet, to get to your data, to get to AI. Let's think about how infrastructure needs to have better rigor and discipline and oversight around programs. So, you know, I'm not gonna cite any specific. You you can Google this. There's plenty of what I'll call grants that have been established in cities prior to the infrastructure money being allocated, where they wanna do the right thing. Right, Daniel? How do we bring the appropriate broadband to the communities that are underserved? It's all well intended. But without that oversight and accountability, there's been case after case where those monies go out and it's how do I build to the most accretive areas. It's not focused on where that bandwidth is not available or the power is not available. It's where do I get the accretive return. I mean, the the the value of the infrastructure grant and bill should be how do we start where it's most difficult, where it's most underserved. But that doesn't provide the ROI for the investment. And that's the challenge. Right? So, you know, infrastructure as a whole needs to advance. We we we've had a, deteriorating infrastructure when it talk when you talk about highways, roads, bridges, etcetera. We see we're catching up, but, you know, we take every dollar that comes in from the infra act specific to bead into, fiber connectivity or power, and we can't ever sustain the needs that are out there today. And that's where, you know, again, the convergence of competing needs or wants need to come together. We don't need a seventh, eighth, ninth alternative electric provider on the same pole. We don't need a seventh, eighth, or ninth alternative telecom or fiber or broadband or in the same right away, but we keep doing it. I mean, you know, it's the definition of insanity, doing the same thing the same way. We have to get better, and people have to, inspect what they expect. We have to know that if these dollars are to really address the underserved communities of a major metropolitan area, we can't let, you know, capitalism drive those behaviors to get to the accretive neighborhoods where you have a higher probability of, you know, getting your revenues to offset your expenses. We're we're never going to get ahead of this problem, at least if my expectation I hope I'm wrong. I'm not that old yet, Daniel Daniel, but I don't think it's gonna be solved by, you know, my lifetime. But I I I hope I can have some level of impact on that and being that enabler. No doubt about it. Fingers crossed on that one. Right? But, yeah, I'm, I'm with you. Right? A lot of times, it's the struggles of the realities of what makes the money move in the market, that, you know, are gonna determine the success of these kinds of collaborations or these more sort of esoteric or lofty visions for how we could see better collaboration between the utilities and broadband ecosystem. Again, being an enterprise provider yourselves, I'm curious. Are you already seeing anywhere, where there's some innovative approaches to infrastructure investment or sort of co investment or co usage between these two ecosystems that, you think we can point to as an example for the rest of the industry? You know, look how utilities and broadband players are collaborating around new or renewed infrastructure user investments, to success for both parties and for the consumer, obviously. You know, my team is focused on not trying to overbuild one another because there's no value in doing it. So how can I enable somebody to, you know, facilitate getting additional broadband into a rural data center that will be a key component for, you know, edge computing? You know, AI, people people act like it's been here for a while. No. It's the nineties and, you know, we're at the dot com boom all over again. So we're at our infancy. If we don't expand infrastructure and get prepared, you know, the old days of broadband running, you know, megabit speeds isn't going to be sustainable. It's about hundred gig, four hundred gig. It's about large fiber cables. The demand for data is bigger than it's ever been, you know, since I've been in this business, and it's only gonna grow from here. So how do we make it easier and more accessible to everyone? That that that's what politicians and private sector need to come together and say, how do we facilitate and move that dollar further? When there's, you know, federal funds coming in, you you look at the private equity world. Right now, there's record dry powder, you know, funds are are waiting to be deployed. But there's also a correlation when, you know, federal funds come out, it kinda slows down the private investment sector. So it we're we're at a a point of inflection that the next couple of years are gonna be very, very unique, very interesting, and very exciting when it comes to infrastructure. So one of the major trends in the energy sector that, is motivating this increased collaboration or, I guess, in a lot of ways necessitating more coordination with local, regional, or nationwide ISPs is grid modernization at large, which is basically, you know, in in a lot of ways, just introducing more layers of connectivity, data capture, and analysis into the energy grid, both at the consumer level, at the, you know, generation and transmission and distribution level, everywhere across the grid. Now, obviously, that's on the utility side. But since you're in the enterprise world, you know, I'm curious if you or any other players in the industry, you know, have some experience you could draw from around how you're seeing this collaboration to support grid modernization impacting some of the ways that the broadband and utilities industry are coordinating on anything, really. It doesn't just have to be infrastructure here. But, have y'all had any experience with, you know, working with utilities providers themselves? And how is their effort for grid modernization shaping some of the solutions, the services, or the strategies that, you know, broadband and connectivity providers, are bringing to the table? You know, the, you know, energy that's flowing through the grid, the demand is only increasing. If they don't have that real time data, you know, what catastrophic events can happen? I mean, you know, I remember the blackout throughout the Midwest, growing up in the Midwest. We have to have visibility. I'm not even going down the geopolitical discussion here, but that's part of it. Right, Daniel? If they have visibility in the infrastructure in place, they have, you know, a partner. They they have real time data. They're monitoring. They're inspecting. They're extrapolating that data. It it's a very symbiotic relationship. You know, when you think of broadband growing up and and getting your first AOL account, that was, you know, a luxury and you you got to hear the noise. But, you know, how how is connectivity? How how is that different than electricity or water or, you know, access to basics? It it it's a very symbiotic relationship being, you know, what I'll call the fifth utility nowadays. Because, again, we learned this during the pandemic. If you didn't have the broadband at home, that connectivity, how could you work from home during the stay at home order? So, you know, how do we make children that are sick able to stay up with their k through twelve learnings? Well, that's streaming. That's providing that content. And, you know, back in the day, one handheld device or one PC in the house was pretty much it. Now everybody's got three to five per person constantly pulling on power and connectivity. Definitely. And it's putting a strain on the grid that, you know, we're already feeling, not to mention some of the enterprise strain with AI computing, and the mass adoption of, cloud in every sector to help assist with, you know, everything from, you know, edge data capture and processing to, you know, important file and memory storage. It's it's it's an ecosystem that is compounding on itself year over year. And you're right. It's it's putting similarly weighty pressures on both the utilities infrastructure ecosystem as well as the connectivity infrastructure ecosystem. And in my conversations on this, I guess, nexus of collaboration, again, like I like to call it, one of the areas, where I know utilities are very interested in working with ISPs to come up with solutions that are meeting their connectivity needs is when we start to get into private LTE networks and the role they can play in, helping support this massive uptick in data intake, that the utilities ecosystem is dealing with at an enterprise level, not to mention at the consumer level. What role do you see private LTE networks playing in this future of not only grid modernization, but really in the sort of, collaborative back and forth between utilities, providers, and broadband and connectivity providers. Right? You know, do you think they're gonna play an important role? What role do you think they'll play? And are there any technological hurdles or opportunities, that are getting in the way or boosting, private LTEs, you know, in in this mix of solutions and, collaborative touch points? Well, Daniel, great question. I I I don't think there's a single silver bullet to solve all this. The appetite for consumers, the appetite or the desire and need of, you know, utilities. How can you get data quicker? Right? And the, you know, days of back hauling network across the country when you can drop it off the edge now, that's where private LTE networks are gonna come into play. That's where the five g offerings from the nationwide wireless carriers. You've seen recently a nationwide wireless carrier, do a investment with a private equity firm to purchase a fiber to the home company, you know, what I'll call the East Coast, but mid Atlantic. There's a convergence of not having a single silver bullet. So it's going to be what I'll call antiquated technology that doesn't meet the bandwidth speeds. And and what you you sparked. I'm laughing because I used to do back flips if I had access to coax cable, right, versus, you know, running a DSL line. So, it's never going to go away. And as, you know, companies, one of the newest, you know, nationwide wireless providers with their O RAN technology, you know, there's going to be the strong desire is how do I get that important content, that AI, that cloud, those applications off on the edge and not bring it back to a core network. So the the short answer to your question, there isn't going to be a single solution. We're not gonna end life anything. You know, what's on the horizon? Who knows? You know, people would have said a fiber cable has a twenty year life, you know, span. Well, you know, a lot of these fiber cables are thirty five, forty years old now, and they're still working. So what's the next technology? Well, the next technology is how do we make vast improvements on core backbones? Hundred gig used to be really impressive. Now it better be four hundred gig, and we're getting demands for multiple four hundred gigs. So what's next? You know, it's gonna be, exploding. You know, this morning, waking up, you know, watching the news, all I heard about was a commercial for AI, a commercial for AI. My, you know, favorite show in the morning on the news talking about AI. We're we're not even scratching the surface right now. So, long story short, we have to leverage existing antiquated technology as well as we continue to advance to meet those bandwidth needs. But power is going to be the long pole in the tech, I'm confident when you you see more and more data center developers building or or planning on builds in Lubbock, Texas where, you know, the oil and gas companies are going to be, you know, hosting in in those new data centers. It's just a very, very exciting time to see technology take over. Not not like in, you know, Terminator. We're not we're not going to that level, Daniel, but we're just we haven't really maximized its potential. Yeah. I couldn't agree more. And like you said at the start of the podcast, you know, we're just getting started with really seeing the maturation of the collaboration between these two ecosystems in the first place. And I think a lot of that is due to the fact that the technologies that are defining their individual evolutions, you know, in some ways, they've already proven their value, but in others, you know, they haven't become the mainstay of day to day operations yet. I mean, like, when we talk about five g, like, the reach of five g across the US still has some work to be done. Right? The reach of a lot. Right? Yeah. It's it's an understatement. The work of you know, the the needed deployment of broadband across rural America, you know, actively seeing funding dollars finally being deployed and years now of coordination and build out needed. So, of course, it's gonna be this blend of tech, very similar to how the energy industry is grappling with, you know, the power portfolio in general. Right? And the reality that I think a lot of folks are coming to, which is that even as we transition away from oil and gas, a lot of that infrastructure is still gonna need to remain up and running while we deploy everything from, you know, new wind power to nuclear power to, you know, geothermal, whatever. Right? So it's just it's curious how this on ramp to improve collaboration, better technologies, better data capture, a happier customer, all of it is a ramp. You know? And it's not just a blip of suddenly, okay. We're now modernizing. So now utilities and, ISPs are, you know, linked at the hip strategically and and, structurally. Right? Now one of the areas that I'm curious your thoughts on where we are seeing more interlinking is around interconnectivity and data sharing. Right? So as both ecosystems start to modernize, in ways where their infrastructure is now capturing more data at the edge, and consumers are bringing more interconnected smart devices and systems to their homes, as more businesses and industrial operations are deploying their own private LTE networks, etcetera, for their, automated and industry four point o machinery. We see all these different ecosystems deploy tech that captures more data at the edge, processes that data, and then often shares it between various ecosystems, sometimes traveling across shared infrastructure. So I'm curious, you know, where you're seeing that interconnectivity and data sharing taking shape between utilities and, ISPs, or even more generally, just sort of the the larger energy and connectivity ecosystems. Right? Is the question of best practices for the capture and use and sharing of that data already coming into focus? Are these two ecosystems just kinda dipping their toe in the water for what data is gonna be useful to share in the first place. It should even be, you know, treated as, sort of like a a shared resource. Where is that maturation at right now, in terms of data sharing? Daniel, that's gotta be by far your best question because naturally yeah. No doubt about it. So, again, you know, there's so much data now. Right? And there is the cybersecurity risk. There is the proliferation of AI sharing data across, you know, segments and verticals, that people don't want it to be. So because and the reason I call it a difficult question, data segmentation and protection has always been a concern concern of any public private entity. Right? And I think people are watching to see what AI and and the whole edge movement creates. But, you know, at the end of the day, the infrastructure that's in place allows for, you know, data protection. The question becomes, where are you willing to allow your data to grow? Go. Excuse me. So if you're taking a free, application because you've got twelve ingredients in your kitchen or your refrigerator and you wanna figure out something you can make out of it without going to the store or ordering, Instacart. At the end of the day, your data in those large language learning models is no longer your data, and you shouldn't have any belief and protection of that data. You have willfully offered that data outside. But from a communication standpoint, from a utility standpoint, the infrastructures in place when it comes to connectivity, may it be broadband, may it be fiber, where they're going to not go across the shared network. Right? It it's about, you know, the collaboration comes where good data can be shared to be better when it comes to first responders and things of that nature. But I believe data protection, data security is going to become more paramount now that all this data is flowing through large language learning models. I mean, we're offering this data out free. And, you know, again, every time you get an application for your electric provider, your gas, water, you know, broadband, Internet, whatever the case may be, you're not just signing up for an account with the billing location. You're putting bank information. You're putting your date of birth. You're you're putting in critical data that if we're not being careful, you know, security is going to be a major issue. Especially, again, like I said, geopolitically, we have to make sure, that we protect our power grids, our infrastructure as a whole, and that can be asphalt and concrete, you know, steel, but also our data, our communications infrastructure. We have to get better at protecting. Alright, Bill. Well, this has been a fabulous conversation. Thank you so much for giving us your insights so far on, you know, where you're seeing the utilities and broadband ecosystems collaborate or not collaborate. Right? And where we should be putting some of that motivator for there to be a little bit more synergy around data usage and, you know, privacy rules all the way to infrastructure investment. What I want to end things on is a little future outlook on technology, actually. Always fun to talk, you know, the juiciest, technology that's at the forefront of modernization for both of these ecosystems and, how they're getting you excited or what role you see them playing in maybe motivating more collaboration, if not just the future of these industries. So what emerging technologies do you see as game changing today for hopefully fostering or just naturally creating more, strategic synergy between the utilities and ISP ecosystems? And any ideas on how both industries might integrate these technologies, if it applies, to, again, facilitate that collaboration. Any thoughts there? I love commuting to my office every day and holding onto the wheel and and pressing, you know, the the pedal. But if I could be working while I commuted into the office or I took a, you know, a bus from here to Austin or a train or whatever the case may be, to me, AI, electric, connectivity, and autonomous driving is converging at at this moment because, again, the SH one thirty initiative or the first autonomous highway in Texas, having those pins. Those pins are critical communication data on and offloading points. Right? There's gonna be a huge volume of data that needs to be dropped off. So we're building the infrastructure in place to allow it. Yeah. Bill, thank you for your insights. And, yeah, what a great way to end things. As we talk about fostering more of this collaboration between our various utility ecosystems, right, as we rightfully consider connectivity being one of those utilities. I think, you know, more of a mindset of authentic collaboration, of seeing your role in the industry as being not a self serving one, but playing a role for something larger than yourself, right, for for key infrastructure that, you know, gives us the the luxuries and the, you know, meets the necessities that we now enjoy and appreciate and, have to have filled every single day. And so, you know, while it might seem a little, I don't know, kinda floaty to end on that kind of note, I I do think it's key because having, you know, a true north of motivation is, an underrated, area of focus, I think, when we talk about these major sort of market moving trends that bring something like the utilities and the, broadband ecosystems closer together. So thank you for that. And, Bill, thank you so much for your insights today. Again, folks, we've been talking with Bill Major. He is the CEO at FiberLyte LLC. Bill, if folks wanna learn more about FiberLyte and the work you're doing for enterprise fiber deployment, how can they tap in and learn a little more? Please go to our website, w w dot FiberLite dot com. We we've got a dedicated group in a biz dev role that is public sector. So we're constantly working with the community and and business leaders and public leaders. Please see our website. Fantastic. Easy enough. Alright. Bill, thank you so much. It's been a real pleasure, and, I'm looking forward to continued conversations. Looking forward to it as well. Thank you very much. And thank you everyone for tuning in to today's episode of Wavelengths. If you like what you heard and saw, make sure that you're subscribing to Wavelengths on Apple Podcasts and Spotify as well as heading to our website, amphenol broadband dot com. Again, that's amphenol broadband dot com, for previous episodes of the show and more information on our solutions and services and other great content. Alright, folks. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you on the next episode of the show. But till then, I'm your host, Daniel Litwin. We'll catch you on another episode of Wavelengths.