Thanks to the emergence of artificial intelligence, demand for data centers is red hot. Data centers run on power-hungry chips, so they are locating to rural America – where the electricity is. In this episode of All Day Digital, Alan Bezoza, a managing director at DigitalBridge Investment Management, explains how the main requirement for cloud computing switched from adequate building space to power. 

The Universal Service Fund, an FCC program that ensures connectivity in rural America, is being challenged in U.S. federal circuit court. The outcome could be disruptive for rural telecom operators who rely on USF support. In this episode of All Day Digital, the former executive director of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, Blair Levin, explains the situation and urges rural communities to be informed.

Money, money, money – an abundance is being directed toward rural broadband in 2024, but with caveats and conditions and a dizzying array of private and public funding options. In this episode of All Day Digital, communications financing expert and CoBank Vice President Lennie Blakeslee discusses how operators can home in on funding that is just right for them. 

With rising interest rates and tightening credit, broadband companies are exploring alternative ways of raising capital. One option getting attention is the securitization of network assets and customer contracts. This type of financing vehicle enables companies to raise capital quickly from a wide range of investors. In this episode of All Day Digital, Jim Stanley of Frontier Communications shares how the company raised capital with a securitization offering, and what they learned. 

The effort to rip out and replace non-compliant, Chinese-made equipment from communication networks has been hobbled by a 60% funding shortfall and processing delays of 5-10 months. It’s jeopardizing not only national security, but also rural wireless access to 911 and the survival of local operators. In this episode of All Day Digital, telecom policy expert and Rural Wireless Association general counsel Carri Bennet outlines how we got here and what Congress needs to do now.

First it was towers, and now it’s fiber: The days of separately owned digital infrastructure assets are coming to an end. One driver is wireless operators, who want one-stop broadband partners who can handle complex needs. In this episode of All Day Digital, investment banker and former communications equity analyst Jennifer Fritzsche explains how rapidly changing customer needs are helping drive consolidation, and what that looks like for rural America.

In confined settings of chickens, hogs and dairy cows, producers have widely adopted technology that monitors animal health and improves efficiency. But with cattle scattered on the range, beef operations are a different breed. That could change with private wireless networks. In this episode of All Day Digital, former rancher and current graduate research student Caleb Hurst digs into precision livestock farming.

With rigorous experience, commitment and strong balance sheets behind them, rural electric co-ops are doing for broadband today what they did for electricity last century. In this episode of All Day Digital, CoBank Regional Vice President of Electric Distribution Tamra Reynolds discusses how those co-ops providing the connectivity lifeblood to rural communities are finding a revenue opportunity in the smart grid.

Thanks to wholesale fiber networks, you may soon receive an offer from your wireless provider for a home broadband bundle. In this episode of All Day Digital, returning guest Tim Courtney, vice president of sales and business development for Further Enterprise Solutions, covers how the wholesale fiber business could usher in a new set of broadband service providers.

An alphabet soup of federal funding programs is determining the future of rural telecom, and now’s the time to master the details. This episode of All Day Digital features telecom attorneys Clare Liedquist and Dee Herman, principals at Herman & Whiteaker. They outline what operators needs to know — from what to look for in broadband coverage maps to navigating BEAD, ACAM and RDOF.