Thought Leadership in 2024

Jennifer Prather, CEO, Totelcom Communications, LLC: Totelcom utilizes every tool available to serve our hardest-to-reach customers, including fixed wireless technologies. Every type of service technology has pros and cons.

In our experience, fixed wireless has been a tool to enter a new market quicker and more cost-effectively before deploying fiber, and we also utilize it to serve some of our most remote customers. Providing a quality fixed wireless experience still takes a lot of fiber. The backhaul and capacity needs of some of those most remote consumers, including energy production/monitoring and agriculture production, continue to challenge fixed wireless.

Even with the deployment of next-gen fixed wireless, our goal remains to get wired connectivity to all these customers eventually—because of some of the cons of the service. Namely, the ongoing maintenance has proven to be greater in time and expense than a wired fiber optic network. Even with the purported reduced next-gen line of site requirements, weather can still interfere with the service. We must replace units at network access points and customer locations that take direct lightning strikes or intense wind bursts each spring. Depending on when these outages occur, it can also limit our ability to address them until the weather has passed.

I also worry about the long-term viability and capacity of spectrum as more wireless tech emerges for the end consumer. Any wireless product, including next-gen fixed wireless and 5G, requires robust wired networks for backhaul between the wireless access points and the core network. This requires fiber to be already branched out to a certain extent, likely close enough to the end consumer to mitigate the cost differential of wired end-user access over a long-term feasibility calculation.

Long-term service plans to consumers must consider all these factors, and with the current funding environment promoting dollars for fiber deployment, it’s a time to try to get as much fiber out as possible and limit our reliance on spectrum-based technologies.

Topic: Workforce Retention

ISE: What is the telecom industry missing in recruiting/retaining younger professionals? What is the company doing in this area?

Michael Wynschenk, CEO, Hunter Communications: Young professionals want to be engaged, they want to be developed, and they want to have exposure to leaders in the business. They want to be mentored.

Members of our leadership team host immersion meetings to address business challenges. This is where management and employees work together to create better results for the business and our customers. Employees are at the decision-making table and find the experience and exposure invaluable.

In 2022, we launched our “Get Ready” Program, which helps facilitate career progression through employee training and mentorship. This program has matured from where department heads nominated employees to where employees participate in an application process. Our inaugural class saw seven out of 10 participants “graduate” and promoted to next-level roles. We are currently preparing to complete the training for the second graduating class.

Our Construction department utilizes a formal apprenticeship program, where individuals with little experience can grow from a ground hand into an aerial lineman. There are eight different tiers that a construction employee needs to complete, with the possibility of program completion in as little as two years. Since its inception, we have promoted 17 employees through this program.

Topic: Vendor Collaboration

ISE: What three things do you need from your vendor partners?

Diana Scudder, Vice President, Virtual Network Operations & Engineering, Verizon: What we need from our vendor partners is high-quality software code, timely delivery of new features and functionality, and a strong sense of urgency to address any software bugs and defects when they arise. One of the most important ways to ensure quality assurance of new code is for our vendor partners to configure their labs to match our production environment. Additionally, it is imperative that thorough regression testing be performed before delivery.

Topic: Emotional Intelligence

ISE: As you work through network obstacles, what have you learned about yourself and others that surprised you?

Todd Zeiler, Vice President of Wireless Construction & Engineering, AT&T: One of my leaders once said, “If I could hire based on self-awareness alone, that would be enough for me to build a strong team.” Since hearing that, I’ve been extra aware of the need to grow that trait as a leader, both in and outside work. We all are created with inherited strengths and are gifted in some areas more than others. I’ve learned that our strengths can also be our potential downfalls.

Out-front and upfront leaders can be a huge inspiration but can also struggle with pride. Individual contributors with deep knowledge of a particular subject make significant contributions to the advancement of society but can also need help collaborating and sharing ideas. The best leaders are self-aware and are emotionally the most intelligent. I’ll never forget that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react.

Topic: Permitting and Easements

ISE: There’s been much debate in DC about permitting and other approval processes that can result in significant deployment delays and cost increases. What would help solve these challenges?

Jason Williams, CEO, Blackfoot Communications: We ran into permitting problems early in our FTTP deployment and continue to run into permitting issues today. On the federal side, we have supported the idea of a “shot clock,” meaning, for example, that if we submit a complete permit application to a federal agency, the permit will be deemed granted within 45 or 60 days if that agency doesn’t act on it. Another option would be to require a streamlined permitting process for areas that have already been disturbed—i.e., areas where we have an existing network and we’re just reinforcing what we already have.

Railroad crossing permits are also an ongoing issue. A few years ago, we had modest success negotiating with the Montana-based division of a larger national railroad to establish some processes and timeframes. That helped a little, but it was voluntary, and whenever there are personnel changes at the railroads, it seems like we start over again.

Topic: Telecom Trends

ISE: How do you see emerging technologies such as 5G, IoT, and edge computing shaping the telecom landscape across rural America in the coming years?

Jennifer Prather: Rural America is primed for use cases and an excellent place to test emerging tech. We have lots of open space, energy, and hardworking individuals in rural areas. We need to be connected to things that previously required a physical connection but can now be done remotely, such as healthcare, education, and commerce. Access to robust and reliable internet connectivity allows our rural areas to grow. With the arrival of remote work at a more universal level, consumers can choose to live in a more remote or rural area. Their arrival, in turn, requires us to do our job well. We must keep our service reliable, robust, and growing with them—or they won’t stay.

Edge computing is an opportunity for rural carriers because we already have empty real estate with robust air conditioning, backup power, and resilient large-capacity networks in our old switch remote locations. All these emerging technologies require larger data capacity, only furthering the need for robust, resilient, and future-proof connections in rural America. To be ready for whatever comes next, we need fiber deployed and ready.

Topic: Community Connections

ISE: To celebrate your May 2023 expansion into Chiloquin, Oregon, you hosted a Community Pizza Party at the Chiloquin Community Center. You also run campaigns to reduce cyberbullying and offer scholarships to students across your service area. Share two other ways you strengthen community connections in telehealth, developing a homegrown workforce and digital inclusion.

Michael Wynschenk: The pandemic saw a boom in the use of telemedicine like nothing we’ve ever seen before. According to the Journal of American Medical Association, there were less than 1 million telemedicine visits nationwide in 2019. That number skyrocketed to over 50 million during the pandemic. The Pacific Northwest utilizes telemedicine almost twice as much as other regions in the country.

At Hunter, we provide symmetrical fiber internet service to our residential customers, vital for a strong video connection during a telemedicine appointment. We also provide fiber optic service to most of the region's larger hospitals and medical facilities, including Asante and Three Rivers Medical Center. Upload speeds at the home and the medical facility are imperative for doctors to communicate clearly and accurately diagnose medical conditions.

While Hunter participates in ACP, we have also created special pricing programs for Veterans and active military personnel, teachers, and parents. In December, we launched the Hunter Family Safety Bundle, which includes our symmetrical fiber optic internet and our Hunter Shield Suite of Internet security products, enabling parents to monitor cyberbullying while building trust and helping their children maintain privacy. This aligns with our values of providing fast, reliable, affordable, and safe internet.

Topic: The Elephant in the Room

ISE: What is our industry NOT addressing that it should in terms of network evolution and broadband for all?

Scott Mispagel, SVP, National Engineering & Operations, Frontier Communications: Permitting. When permitting is delayed, it affects the timeline, resources, and budget for fiber deployment. This ultimately impacts people's ability to access the best broadband connectivity available. While work is being done in this area, we need to come together as an industry to address these challenges and implement solutions that will help deliver this critical infrastructure more efficiently to communities across the country.

Topic: Advice

ISE: What would you tell emerging leaders as they try to make a difference in the industry AND propel their careers to the next level?

Diana Scudder: My recommendation for emerging leaders is not to be afraid to take risks. Leaders need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. They must become experts at change management. First, by embracing change themselves. Next, by helping lead their team through change.

Technology is changing and evolving at such a rapid and unprecedented rate. Industry leaders must embrace new technologies and innovation, such as artificial intelligence.

Finally, leaders must also create a safe environment for their employees to feel empowered to share ideas, try, fail, learn, iterate, and grow. Leaders must remember that some of the most innovative and creative solutions are developed by frontline teams.

Topic: The Future

ISE: What emerging or disruptive broadband technology excites you the most? Why?

Todd Zeiler: While Open RAN usually gets the attention of the newspaper's front page, the service management and orchestration (SMO) platform is the foundation of creativity. While “open network management” might not do justice to the full scope of SMO, let’s offer that label as a starting point. While SMO will offer the traditional configuration, fault, and performance management of a multi-vendor environment, I would provide the real win is potentially an “app store” for wireless networks. The “SMO app store” will invite the brightest minds of mobile network engineers, wireless vendor partners, and, ultimately, the creativity of the brightest third-party developers to drive automation, innovation, and out-of-the-box ideation for revenue-generating applications.

Topic: Data Centers

ISE: What network challenges are unique to data centers and what challenges are ahead for them?

Michael Crook, Market Development Manager, Corning Optical Communications: Data centers are confronted with unique challenges due to the rise of generative AI. One of these challenges is time. The speed at which data centers need to be built or expanded is increasing rapidly. Hyperscale data centers are swiftly adapting their architectures to accommodate more fiber for AI applications. Now, more than ever, they require pre-connectorized solutions for denser, faster, and simpler deployments.

Additionally, space within data centers and the size of components are also significant challenges. Compared to traditional data centers that primarily use a Central Processing Unit (CPU) based network, AI requires a second backend network built on Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) which allows an application like a chatbot to learn from a set of data and then create new data based on what it learned.

These GPUs not only connect to the front-end network but also interconnect, creating the dense neural network required for Gen AI. In fact, these large GPU clusters can require over 10 times more optical fiber in the same space than legacy server racks, leading to a need for smaller and denser solutions to fit more fiber into existing spaces.

Data centers also face the challenge of future-proofing their networks and accounting for scalable growth. As AI continues to evolve, the backend networks will also need to adapt and grow. We see fiber connections scaling up as data rates per GPU scales up—meaning more and more fiber optic connects needed to build larger AI clusters.