We caught up with Sachin Gupta, of Centranet, to discuss their milestone in Oklahoma. Recently, Centranet provided one of the fastest connections globally to a pilot member of the Sac and Fox Nation. Nokia later called the achievement the first live commercial trial of 50G PON technology in a tribal nation. In this episode of Beyond the Cable, we discuss what the achievement means for the future of rural and tribal connectivity with Gupta.

The rise of digital infrastructure needs has led telecom workforces to have a unique role in communities across America.

As such, telecom workforces often have a unique opportunity to spot the telltale signs of human trafficking, according to Josh Loaiza, of the 3Strands Global Foundation.

In this episode, we speak with Loaiza about a 3Strands initiative known as Telecommunications Against Trafficking and Exploitation (TATE), which is activating telecom workforces to fight human trafficking.

We speak with Stephen Rose, the newly named CEO of Render Networks, to discuss AI's potential to streamline deployments, which could lead to big savings for internet service providers (ISPs). Plus, hear Rose's take on why AI doesn't pose a risk as an industry job killer on this episode recorded from the exhibition floor of Connected America 2025 earlier this month in Dallas.

Arbitrary decision making has shaken the confidence of workers at the NTIA, according to Evan Feinman, the former director of the BEAD Program. According to Feinman, who resigned his post on Friday, March 14, that fear hurt the culture within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which advises the president on telecommunications policy. Hear why that, and reviews with seemingly pre-determined outcomes, has left Feinman concerned about the BEAD Program's direction following his departure from government.

In Part 1 of our two-part series of Beyond the Cable from Connected America we interview Kelly Colman, the CEO of a startup named Xenesis, Bob Lamb, the VP of Global Sales at Aprecomm, and Megan Steckly, the CEO of Compudopt.

Catch Part 2 of this series on Tuesday, March 25, when we bring you our interviews from Day 2 of Connected America.

Questions are swirling around the future of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program since the administration of President Donald J. Trump has taken the helm. On this episode of Beyond the Cable, Dr. Nathan Smith, the Director of Economics and Policy for Connected Nation, joins us to talk about the future of the BEAD program, which has been the subject of some criticism from Republicans. Hear what Dr. Smith considers BEAD's best political protection and find out what he says broadband providers should and shouldn't be worried about in 2025.

Charles Thomas, the Chief Strategy Officer for Rural Broadband Partners (RBP), says he tells ISPs in rural areas not to view themselves as rural providers. Instead, he asks them to look at urban providers and to examine the resources those entities have. "You want to build that into your location," he says. On this episode of Beyond the Cable, we discuss more strategy, and Thomas' mission to win hearts and minds on behalf of rural broadband, which he says is still viewed as a luxury by some.

Mike Frane, Nitel's chief product officer, joined a recent episode of Beyond the Cable to discuss how software-defined wide area networks, also known as SD-WANs, have lived up to the hype.

Ben Elkins, the CEO of Utah Broadband, has overseen explosive growth during his tenure at Arizona-based AireBeam. Find out how AireBeam was able to increase fiber subscribers by 375 percent under Elkins' leadership. We also discuss his philosophy towards management in roles at both firms, which are subsidiaries of the Boston Omaha Corporation.

In this episode of Beyond the Cable, we sit down with LiveOak Fiber's Chief Revenue Officer, Steve Smith. He discusses the ISP's growth in the Florida and Georgia region, along with the role that small, rural ISPs can play in the new digital ecosystem. That, plus learn what's next for LiveOak Fiber in 2025.