Guest: Gary Bolton, president, Fiber Broadband Association (FBA)

Gary Bolton, president of the <a href="https://www.fiberbroadband.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fiber Broadband Association</a>, returns to the podcast to discuss how the fiber industry's advocacy efforts are changing as the US federal government implements its $65 billion broadband bill. We also discuss FBA's forthcoming fiber optic technician training program, broadband mapping woes at the FCC and more. <a href="https://www.lightreading.com/newsletter_signup.asp?utm_source=referral&amp;utm_medium=Acast&amp;utm_campaign=Podcast_CTA" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sign up today for the Light Reading newsletter.</a>

The Divide: Gary Bolton on taking fiber advocacy to the states

With Light Reading editors Kelsey Ziser, Mike Dano and Phil Harvey

Light Reading editors Kelsey Ziser, Mike Dano and Phil Harvey sign off from MWC with a 10-minute informal recap of the work week ended September 30. The rest of the show notes and story links can be found at <a href="https://www.lightreading.com/lr-podcast.asp" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.lightreading.com/lr-podcast</a>.

The Notebook Dump: Chips and salsa for the win

Guests: Maura Mahoney and Patrick Coughlin, FirstLight Fiber

This episode features Maura Mahoney, chief marketing officer, and Patrick Coughlin, chief development officer, with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.firstlight.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">FirstLight Fiber</a>, a digital infrastructure provider servicing enterprise and carrier customers on a 25,000 route mile fiber network. We discuss how the company's middle-mile fiber network is helping bridge the digital divide "from Bangor to Buffalo," how the company factors network stability into its buildout, the process of applying for NTIA infrastructure grants and more.

The Divide: How FirstLight is connecting communities with middle-mile fiber

Guest: Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading

Mike Dano returns to the podcast to discuss Helium Mobile, which recently signed an MVNO agreement with T-Mobile. Helium Mobile customers will be able to access T-Mobile's existing 5G network and the do-it-yourself, Helium-branded 4G network in exchange for cryptocurrency rewards. Mike explains how the MVNO will work and which new and noteworthy elements Helium Mobile will bring into the US wireless industry.

What's the story? Helium Mobile's high hopes for MVNO

Guests: Light Reading's Mike Dano, Phil Harvey and Kelsey Ziser

Light Reading editors Mike "can't be bothered" Dano, Phil "the higher the hair the closer to heaven" Harvey and Kelsey "finger guns" Ziser get together for an informal recap of what's happened during the work week ended September 23, 2022. The stories covered include:<ul><li><a href="https://www.lightreading.com/cable-tech/10g-pon-and-pandemic-pr-light-readings-super-official-scte-cable-tec-expo-wrap(tm)/v/d-id/780571?" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">10G, PON and pandemic PR: Light Reading's super-official SCTE Cable-Tec Expo wrap™</a></li><li><a href="https://www.lightreading.com/opticalip-networks/ericsson-gets-us-clearance-for-vonage-take-off/d/d-id/779034" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ericsson gets US clearance for Vonage take-off</a></li><li><a href="https://www.lightreading.com/5g/ericssons-$62b-vonage-deal-has-befuddled-investors---no-wonder/a/d-id/773739" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ericsson's $6.2B Vonage deal has befuddled investors – no wonder</a></li><li><a href="https://www.lightreading.com/satellite/the-iphone-satellite-service-looks-desperately-niche/a/d-id/780242" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The iPhone satellite service looks desperately niche</a></li><li><a href="https://www.lightreading.com/regulatorypolitics/5g-may-expand-into-127ghz-1325ghz-next/d/d-id/780481" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">5G may expand into 12.7GHz-13.25GHz next</a></li><li><a href="https://www.lightreading.com/iot/ripsim-promises-to-show-carriers-bright-side-of-esims/d/d-id/780526" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">RiPSIM promises to show carriers the bright side of eSIMs</a></li></ul> If you want to skip around and listen, here are a few more things covered in this interview:<ul><li><a href="https://www.lightreading.com/cable-tech/10g-pon-and-pandemic-pr-light-readings-super-official-scte-cable-tec-expo-wrap(tm)/v/d-id/780571" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">SCTE Cable-Tec Expo show recap</a>&nbsp;(00:50)</li><li>Kelsey finally gets a new iPhone after hanging onto the XR for four years... but the satellite service on her iPhone 14 isn't available just yet (02:30)</li><li>Ericsson hints at an update to the Vonage acquisition (Note: The update from Ericsson is coming out on September 26, not this week as initially stated during the podcast. Stay tuned for more from Light Reading on the acquisition next week). (06:17)</li><li>The NTIA spectrum event and why Mike hates the phrase "the race to 5G" (09:21)</li><li>Metaverse woes and why Second Life still sucks (12:30)</li><li>Startup RiPSIM launches a new eSIM product (14:17)</li><li>Things you never needed to know including the fact that New York ranks 8th for best states to go fishing in (not to be confused with phishing) (20:30)</li><li>See you at Mobile World Congress Las Vegas, but don't ask Phil or Mike for an Elvis impersonation (23:51)</li></ul>

The Notebook Dump: Ericsson acquires Vonage, national spectrum strategy, eSIM startup and Elvis impersonators

Guest: Jessica Epley, vice president of regulatory and external affairs at Ziply Fiber

Jessica Epley, vice president of regulatory and external affairs at&nbsp;<a href="https://ziplyfiber.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ziply Fiber</a>&nbsp;joins the podcast to discuss the company's fiber buildout strategy in the northwest US, how it's preparing for the opportunities and competition presented by Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funding, and why permitting reform would help accelerate broadband delivery where it's needed most.

The Divide: Ziply VP chats rural fiber builds, permit reforms and micro-trenching

Guest: Dave Ward, CEO, PacketFabric 

Enterprises have fully moved their IT stack into the cloud, and network infrastructure is next. Dave Ward, PacketFabric’s CEO, joins Light Reading to discuss the need for serious positive disruption in telecom, the flexibility of a cloud-native network, and how PacketFabric delivers real-time connectivity anywhere you want to go. #sponsored

Executive Spotlight Q&A: Flexible, Cloud Native Networking is Here

Guest: Bob Gold, Bob Gold & Associates

If you've been in the cable tech industry for more than five minutes, there's a good chance you know Bob Gold, the super-energetic PR/marketing guy and Cable TV Pioneer who's been representing cable tech companies and startups since the late 1990s. Gold got his agency start representing a video remultiplexing company (sexy, right?) called Imedia.&nbsp; Since then, off the top of this hack's head, he's flacked for is currently flacking for companies such as Canal Plus, Pioneer (back when it was making cable boxes and interactive guides), Media One, Incanta and ClearBand (we'll get to that those in more detail), Plume, the recently rechristened National Content &amp; Technology Association (NCTC) and Vidgo, a virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD) that competes in the market with the likes of YouTube TV, Hulu, Philo and Sling TV. Full disclosure – he and the crew at Bob Gold &amp; Associates have pitched a ton of stories to me about many of them over the years. Bob and I don't always see eye-to-eye, but I've written about many of them over the years. And Gold did nominate me for the Cable TV Pioneers class of 2018, so perhaps I wasn't as big of a jerk to him, his staff and his clients over the years as I thought I was. Hey, I tried.&nbsp; Usually news tied to Gold has to do with a company he represents, but this time it's all about Bob –<a href="https://bobgoldpr.com/gold-turns-silver-bob-gold-associates-celebrates-a-quarter-century-of-communications-excellence" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> his agency recently turned 25-years-old</a>. He got that up and running about the time I started writing about the industry and had to Google "DOCSIS" to figure out what the heck I was about to do my first story on. So, we've got a lot of industry stuff in common, enough that it made sense to get together on the podcast and hop in the "Wayback Machine" to reminisce about the last two decades-plus. You can download a lightly edited transcript of the podcast <a href="&quot;https://www.dropbox.com/s/jjhvj6ijrlht7ql/LR%20Podcast%20--%20Bob%20Gold%20of%20Bob%20Gold%20%26%20Associates_otter_ai%20%281%29.pdf?dl=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>. If you want to skip around and listen, here's a timestamped list of the convo:&nbsp; <ul><li>How Gold and the crew celebrated the silver anniversary. And, yes, a PR crisis did interfere (1:15)&nbsp;</li><li>How Gold, whose background includes marketing and communications exec roles with major cable programmers, turned a disaster into a new career as the head of an agency that focused on the crazy world of tech – and other stuff (5:50)&nbsp;</li><li>How a top exec of a company didn't even believe in a fiber-based product that was being pitching to the press (12:30)&nbsp;</li><li>How startups like Incanta and ClearBand had great ideas about streaming TV to devices but were just too early with respect to tech or content rights… or both (14:00)&nbsp;</li><li>How Gold pitched me on a cable theft story, and I royally screwed up the embargo and the bad guy got away (15:30)&nbsp;</li><li>Which client was Gold's greatest completed Hail Mary (18:30)&nbsp;</li><li>Why Dan Aykroyd was Gold's favorite celeb to work with, back when video-on-demand was just appearing on the cable scene (20:30)&nbsp;</li><li>Why Gold, at one time, viewed Amazon Prime as the most infuriating organization (24:00)&nbsp;</li><li>Gold's biggest gain. After the fact, he told me to add Plume to the list (26:44)&nbsp;</li><li>Gold's proudest moment – next to being my guest on the podcast, of course (27:30)</li></ul> —&nbsp;Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, <a href="http://www.lightreading.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Light Reading</a>

Reminiscing with Bob Gold about cable milestones, Dan Aykroyd and media screwups

Guests: Pablo Tomasi and Anna Ahrens, Omdia

Service providers have been banging on about the benefits of private 5G networks for the manufacturing industry, but that vertical has been reluctant to move forward with 5G technologies. In this podcast interview, Omdia analysts Pablo Tomasi and Anna Ahrens explain why the manufacturing industry, oft-cited as fertile ground for 5G, hasn't been that excited about private 5G network adoption. "[5G] has a large promise of ultra-reliable, low-latency communications, which is actually a basic requirement of industrial communication," said Ahrens. "But what no one counted on or what no one expected is that it is not ready to go technology, it is a technology which still needs to be evolved." In addition, Ahrens and Tomasi dive into their joint research report,&nbsp;<a href="https://omdia.tech.informa.com/OM024714/Demystifying-Private-5G-in-Manufacturing-How-to-Seize-a-New-Opportunity" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Demystifying Private 5G in Manufacturing: How to Seize a New Opportunity</a>, and explain what can be done about the mismatch of expectations for 5G between the telcos and manufacturing sector. You can<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/ej7kek8er69aphu/Light%20Reading%20podcast_5G_Omdia.pdf?dl=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;download a lightly edited transcript of the podcast here</a>. If you want to skip around and listen, here are a few more things covered in this interview:<ul><li>Why the manufacturing industry is hesitant about adopting 5G (02:45)</li><li>The reality of ROI for 5G (04:01)</li><li>Why the manufacturing sector is resistant to disruptive technologies (06:07)</li><li>Why the manufacturing industry is slow to adopt new technologies provided by telcos (08:11)</li><li>What service providers believe is the advantage of 5G for the manufacturing industry (10:44)</li><li>Near term opportunities for service providers in the manufacturing sector (14:24)</li><li>Impetus behind Ahrens and Tomasi deciding to team up on their joint report (17:19)</li><li>How telcos can better develop 5G services that enterprises need (19:16)</li></ul>

Omdia on the rocky road to private 5G for manufacturing

Light Reading editors Mike, Nicole, Kelsey and Phil cover the week's telco news.

Light Reading editors Kelsey Ziser, Nicole Ferraro and Jedi Padawan Mike Dano join sentient vanilla latte Phil Harvey for an informal recap of what's happened during the work week ended September 16, 2022. The show notes and video for this episode are <a href="https://www.lightreading.com/the-edge/the-notebook-dump-broadband-proliferation-chicanery-and-hotel-soap/v/d-id/780451?" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">available right here</a>.

The Notebook Dump: Broadband proliferation, chicanery and hotel soap

Telecom news, broadband policy, cats, food and more.

Light Reading Podcasts is the feed for The Light Reading Podcast, The Divide, What's the Story and more. Light Reading provides daily news, analysis and insight for the global communications networking and services industry. The publication was founded in 2000 and, since July 2016, has been a part of&nbsp;Informa Tech, a division of Informa PLC. The Light Reading Network, which includes targeted online communities like&nbsp;Connecting Africa,&nbsp;Broadband World News,&nbsp;Telecoms.com&nbsp;and&nbsp;The 5G Exchange, is part of Informa Tech's broader portfolio of specialist research, media, events and training to businesses and professionals working in technology.

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The Divide: Gary Bolton on taking fiber advocacy to the states

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