Connected Nation

From open Wi-Fi to "visionary" broadband laws: How the western US is addressing digital access differently

• Jessica Denson • Season 5 • Episode 42

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On this episode of Connected Nation, we talk with leadership at Total Telecom about a new event that’s focused on connecting “every community in the Western US with next-generation communications infrastructure.”

From cutting-edge technologies to proven broadband strategies – we’ll find out what topics, speakers, and innovations you can expect to explore during the inaugural Broadband Communities Summit WEST. 

Recommended Links:
BBC WEST REGISTRATION
Brad Randall's LinkedIn

Jessica Denson (00:08):

This is Connected Nation, an award-winning podcast focused on all things broadband from closing the digital divide to improving your internet speeds. We talk technology topics and impact all of us, our families, and our neighborhoods. On today's podcast, we talk with leadership at Total Telecom about a new event that's focused on connecting every community in the Western US with next generation communications infrastructure. From cutting edge technologies to proven broadband strategies. We'll find out what topics, speakers, and innovations you can expect to explore during the inaugural broadband community Summit West. I'm Jessica Denson and this is Connected Nation. I'm Jessica Denson, and today my guest is Brad Randall, who is the editor for Total Telecom, the company organizing this year's broadband community Summit West taking place in San Diego, California. Welcome, Brad.

Brad Randall (01:02):

Hi, Jessica.

Jessica Denson (01:04):

Nice to have you on Again, just for our audience sake, I'm a little scratchy today. I've had a cough for about a week, but we're going to get through this. Brad's been encouraging me as we set up. Thank you, Brad.

Brad Randall (01:17):

No problem. I know the struggle.

Jessica Denson (01:21):

Last time that we had you on, we didn't really get to explore your background, so I'd like to really begin there. You were a journalist before you got into communications, correct?

Brad Randall (01:31):

Yeah, I mean, I've been born and bred into journalism. My father ran a community newspaper in my hometown here of Kingston, Massachusetts, so it's been in my blood since I was a we lad.

Jessica Denson (01:44):

And when you having your father run a newspaper like that, what were some things, did you have any great stories or did he just put into your brain journalism matters? It's a public justice public service type thing. I was a journalist for a while, so sometimes you can have that journalist that's very, it's all about the people or you can have that journalist who's no sides. We pick no sides. Where did he land on that spectrum?

Brad Randall (02:14):

They were kind of into political muck raking, so it was exciting. They covered small town politics, so you'd always see movers and shakers from the town coming in talking about the latest drama, and I'm not sure I understood all of it as a kid, but it was sure exciting and it lit the fire within me. Went to college for journalism, came out and became an independent journalist. Ended up working for the Nashville Telegraph reporting for them for a few years, was a community reporter for two newspapers south of Boston, Waymouth and Braintree, if anyone knows the area. And I think journalism, it is a passion of mine that will never go away. I love telling the stories and that's what I'm doing here at broadband communities. It's a natural fit. While it's a trade publication, it sure doesn't feel like it's sometimes covering communications. It's real journalism.

Jessica Denson (03:12):

Yeah, I relate a lot of ways. We do a lot of similar work, although obviously I work for a nonprofit and so we have a point of view, which some newspapers do. Do you think that in your point of view, what do you think people get wrong about local journalism or community journalism?

Brad Randall (03:30):

How necessary it is as a watchdog, I think the importance of a local newspaper can't be understated with no one watching anything can happen. So having that watchdog there is incredibly valuable and we live in a time where those watchdog are going away.

Jessica Denson (03:53):

I love when somebody says, oh, the media this, they're so evil this that. I like to point out I worked for local TV that the big networks aren't your locals. They aren't the people who really know your community, but the local journalists are. So where did you study Mass comms,

Brad Randall (04:14):

St. Bonaventure, small Little College out in Western New York,

Jessica Denson (04:20):

And anything you took away from that that you just enjoyed? Are you still a lot of friends with our friends with a lot of your other journalists there?

Brad Randall (04:29):

If you're going to allow me to fit a plugin to St. Bon,

Jessica Denson (04:32):

Yes. Yes, do it.

Brad Randall (04:33):

I have zero regrets. I mean, I was trained by Pulitzer Prize winning journalists like John ett, who was the first managing editor for USA today and was the White House correspondent for them for GT followed Bill Clinton out of Little Rock into Washington DC and all of that. It just further lit the fire. You'd go to class and you'd hear this legend just telling stories about Bill Clinton and not sure how many of them were true, but it was an experience that I'll never forget and it kind of set that lifelong passion into motion.

Jessica Denson (05:16):

Well, I imagine if you've got this background where your dad is coming back, talking politics and all these mover and shakers and then you go to school and you have that, it really had to really looked like journalism was an exciting place to be, which I think it can be at times, don't you?

Brad Randall (05:34):

Oh yeah. I mean, well, when I first got my role at the Nashville Telegraph, I mean they had me covering murders and fires, so I was just sitting by the scanner not knowing what I'd do every day and something would come through and I'd go to a working fire and come home feeling like not myself because I just breathed in plastic or something that was burning. So I mean, it was exciting, but I think after a while I said, well, maybe I'm a little too close to the action time to get a little more comfortable. And I started transitioning to the editor role because I have a way with words. I love editing and I like having that editorial control.

Jessica Denson (06:18):

Well, let's talk about your current company though then and your role. What brought you to, I know it's Terrapin. Does Terrapin own Total Telecom? Is that how they're intertwined?

Brad Randall (06:28):

They do. They acquired broadband communities, which is part of their portfolio now. They acquired it last year and I've been with them since shortly after the acquisition.

Jessica Denson (06:39):

And your current role, do you oversee all editorial decisions at Total Telecom or are you overseeing the conferences or is it a combination thereof?

Brad Randall (06:51):

So they're kind of siloed. Total Telecom is a worldwide publication. Their staff is based in London and they cover Europe and beyond Middle East Asia. It doesn't really matter. I mean, I send them stories that I write for the United States. Total Telecom is a worldwide publication. What broadband communities is a kind of dives down into the weeds here in North America, specifically the United States, and consider it like Total Telecom is the Boston Globe and broadband communities is kind of like a satellite newspaper covering a smaller community and that being the United States,

Jessica Denson (07:30):

That's a good way to put it. Yeah. One of your staffers, when I was responding to setting this up, they were in England. I was like, well, that's not fair for work. Sorry, I won't respond. I'll be in England for work. So it must be a lot of fun to have that kind of global feel, but also a local sense

Brad Randall (07:50):

To it. I have colleagues all over the world, Australia, London, Netherlands, and so you never know where someone is from when you get a message on teams. They could be from anywhere.

Jessica Denson (08:03):

That's fascinating and a lot of fun, I would think. So then let's focus on what's going on for the first time this year. You're having broadband Community Summit West and it's taking place in San Diego and October 30th and 31st, which I wrote in my notes, spooky season. It's the inaugural event that's focused on the western part of the us. I went to the one that was held in Texas, which was fantastic. I like that you kind of described it as local and regional that you're kind of focusing on compared to the global that Total Telecom also has. Talk about why it's important that you added this summit in the western part of the us.

Brad Randall (08:48):

Well, I mean, I'll kind of talk about where the inception came from, that idea having and Community summit in Houston. We noticed that we weren't getting that draw from the West coast, and we kind of blamed distance for that. And also the fact that Central United States and the Eastern United States is just a different market. There's different challenges. Some of 'em are the same, but some of 'em are different. And so we said, well, hey, we need to go to California. We need to go to these people and if they're not coming to us, we'll go to them. And that's kind of what brought us to California. And there's also a lack of shows out there from what we determined. So it seems like the area is kind of begging for this community event where the industry can come together, rally around causes under the same time.

Jessica Denson (09:40):

Yeah, I really noticed when I was in the Woodlands, which was just outside of Houston for the last one, that a lot of what was interesting were the events and stuff that you put on, but also just the networking and the one-on-one time people had that seemed to really be fruitful. When we last talked before that summit, everyone was focused on the affordable connectivity program and the loss of it, and that happened in late May. And there are talks about bringing it back or bringing some version of it back, but right now it's not a reality. What are some trending issues though, that you're seeing nationally, whether it's that or other things in this space?

Brad Randall (10:21):

Well, that remains a trending issue. And as you said, it may come back, it may not. I'll give you something a little tidbit that's kind of interesting though. A trend to watch for would be the emergence of open wifi. And I actually just moderated a webinar dealing with this yesterday. Open wifi is kind of interesting because it tackles some of the challenges that would be presented by the ban of bulk billing. And so when you go into wifi, you have several types. You have managed wifi, your retail wifi, and then you have your bulk wifi, and then you have open wifi, an open wifi, the property owner owns the equipment, and then any provider can come in and compete on that equipment. So I think if bulk billing does get banned, which personally I'm skeptical that it will because of the amount of opposition, but if it does, open wifi could be seen as a solution to offer that platform for ISPs to compete in multifamily units.

Jessica Denson (11:31):

And anything else? Well, first, before we move forward, explain a little bit more what Open wifi is to maybe somebody who has not heard that term yet. Is it just a simple, I know you said that anybody could come onto it, but what does that mean exactly?

Brad Randall (11:50):

Well, so with managed wifi, let's say you have a provider come in and let's say you have a multifamily unit building with a hundred units in it, and then that means you have a hundred modems all competing over each other. Open wifi uses AI machine learning to kind of drown out all the noise. And it is from one router, so you don't get the interference that you would normally get. Now it is open source. Think of what a hotel has for their wifi. It won't be a solution for everybody, but it does offer advantages when it comes to lack of interference and certainly being able to compete in some of these units.

Jessica Denson (12:35):

Are there some security concerns when it's open like that?

Brad Randall (12:40):

There are, yes. And those will have to be addressed by the industry. However, it's not as open as it sounds. It's not like you just walk in and log on. These passwords are with residents and there is some facet of security with the system. Of course.

Jessica Denson (12:58):

What about with bead right now it's worth about three years in. What are some things that you're hearing people talk about with that? Are they frustrated with the timelines? Is it going too slowly for some or too quick, or what are some things you're hearing?

Brad Randall (13:14):

I'm seeing that frustration. I'm not hearing it. I'm seeing headlines about it, but I'm not hearing it. When I talk to state broadband offices, things seem to be going as normal. They're going through the process and we have states and territories getting approved now kind of on a rolling basis, multiple per week. So California itself allocated 1.86 billion in bead. Now why is that? It's because California is so big, and as I said yesterday, you can drive for three hours from my house north. You're in Maine south, you're in New York City West, you're in Albany, you drive three hours anywhere in California and you're still in California. So it brings with it its own set of challenges, that one being expense associated with it. And what we're finding in California, there are a lot of unconnected communities that are seeing first time access, and it's not just bead money or state money going into these things. It's private capital, private equity. And I'll give you an example, the community of Coalinga, it's in southwestern Fresno County, and it's just receiving first time access now, and that's thanks to a project. I think it's unwired Broadband, but that's over 4,800 addresses. It may sound like a small town, but that's pretty big to be getting first time access. So we're seeing that in California, and I think that's kind of playing out across the Western states.

Jessica Denson (14:52):

What do you feel are going to be some of the big topics that are specific to the Western states other than what you just talked about, about the link, how difficult it can be to connect the smallest of the towns or the furthest away? Are there any things that you think that you'll see that are going to be very specific to the US on the western side,

Brad Randall (15:14):

And we'll go to California. So I'm looking at assembly bill 2, 2, 3, 9. It's a proposed bill that would kind of mirror the fccs digital discrimination rules. And California has been out in front of this, and you find that California reminds me of my own state somehow, Massachusetts, they try to pass visionary laws where they get out in front of issues. And California is doing that with digital discrimination. It's got a lot of opposition in the industry because it defines digital discrimination of access as either the consequence of an intended business decision or an unintended consequence of a business decision, meaning a provider could just make a business decision where they're not thinking about this issue and if it does translate to digital discrimination of access, while they could be held liable. And providers are trying to say, well, if you're going to do that to us, that increase the risk and we're less likely to spend money.

(16:16):

Advocates for the legislation are saying, well, listen, these companies will always say that and they'll still spend the money because there's still communities that will need to be connected. Just from a reporter perspective, I can see validity on the provider side. Yes, if you increase risk, you're more cautious with making business decisions. Some of the overhead for some of these ISPs is very large and some of the margins are very small. So who can afford it? The big guys who can increase their staff and have people dedicated to looking at this. But also some of the advocates, they have incredibly valid points as well where some of the communities in California that haven't been connected, you'd be surprised their inner city, LA areas and urban areas. So they're saying, listen, digital discrimination of access is happening in California and we need something to deal with it. Now

Jessica Denson (17:13):

I will be at the broadband community Summit West, so I'm interested to see how they tackle that topic, how you guys tackle that topic and what people are going to be saying. Go

Brad Randall (17:24):

Ahead. Can I just build on that, Jessica, because

(17:27):

It ties into multiple issues. You asked what are the issues going on out there, and California has a budget deficit, so they've made cuts, and one of the things that they've cut is middle mile broadband that the state was funding. And it kind of goes back to this. It's easy to cut something that people don't have yet, and broadband fell into that category. There's been concern that some of the cuts will affect communities, like I'm thinking of Watts in LA communities that are desperately in need of access that have been impacted by this digital discrimination of access. And then since we're talking about kind of a wide scope here, looking down from 35,000 feet assembly bill 1, 3, 3, 2, it's not in law yet, but it would legalize, oh no, I'm sorry, that has been passed. That would legalize accessory dwelling units. And so California has an affordable housing crisis that's been going on for many years. One of the ways that they want to deal with that is accessory dwelling sheds, things like that. If they can be converted to residential towns and cities have to have a process now where they will permit these things and within 30 days of getting the application, they'll either have to say yes or no. So this will be happening quickly starting in 2025 New Year's Day, and all those accessory dwelling units will have to be connected.

Jessica Denson (18:59):

But there's no plan on that. That's not part of the bill though yet. Right now, the broadband side of it, no,

Brad Randall (19:05):

The bill would just allow it, but

Jessica Denson (19:07):

Allow those sheds.

Brad Randall (19:09):

It is this tidbit. We're offering our audience of, Hey, this is coming down the pike, so be ready

Jessica Denson (19:14):

For it. We need to be ready for it. That's good. So just kind of getting ahead of some of the issues as well, even if maybe it's not being talked about at a large with lots of people, you're trying to get ahead and say, Hey, here's some things that are coming down the pike. Here's some things that are important now. That kind of thing, you're kind of spreading. Yeah,

Brad Randall (19:36):

Absolutely. And it's necessary because multifamily built in California are slumping, but single family builds are rising. And so with the current housing market, that makes it pretty challenging for a lot of people. So there are a lot of hopes placed on the accessory dwelling unit lot.

Jessica Denson (19:53):

Yeah, they've had a residential problem for a long time. I drive through LA and you know it in about five minutes, I noticed the conference is organized around three, excuse me, organized around five themes, the keynote strategy, communities, technology and operations, and real estate. Talk about why those five and why that was important for you to kind of break it down that way. These are different tracks people can choose from, correct?

Brad Randall (20:24):

Yeah, and it's important for us to break it down that way because broadband communities is the convergence of real estate and connectivity, and we see ourselves that way. Our attendees see ourselves that way, and we offer a place for people in real estate and connectivity to huddle and to network. So we have that. We have technology solutions. We're a place where people can discuss solutions and we'll have people from state broadband offices, tribal broadband offices, and let's go into that. The solutions aspect, maybe you're from a community on the west coast, it's a different type of topography, different type of geology out there. Maybe you're from a community that's dealing with solid bedrock and it's exorbitantly expensive for you to build fiber. So you're looking for solutions. And people from the Navajo Nation may have gone through that before where they employed Toronto for fixed wireless access or maybe that you're in a state broadband office that's dealing with tribes.

(21:31):

People from Alaska have gone through that where they've employed cultural representatives in some of those builds because we have to remember, tribal lands are who spiritual lands. So how do you deal with that? How do you manage those challenges? And we'll have people there that have managed challenges that you didn't even know that you had yet. So I think it's incredibly valuable in the way we set it up. We have those keynote addresses, and then immediately after we have networking opportunities that gives people a chance to meet the speakers immediately, kind of pick their brains. And I think the industry loves it. I mean, it's such a valuable thing. We look around, fiber connect happens once a year, but there's not that many opportunities to do that, and so we're proud to be able to provide that.

Jessica Denson (22:18):

Are there one or two key speakers that you're excited about this year that maybe you can mention?

Brad Randall (22:23):

Yeah, I mean, I'm always excited about Kim McKinley, the chief marketing Officer for Utopia Fiber, Joseph Alandra, the chairman and CEO of Tribal Ready, Thomas Tyler, the deputy director of Connect la, and let's, we'll have updates from state broadband offices. We'll have updates from the state of California. We'll have service provider updates. So you kind of get all angles here. We'll have the California Public Utilities Commission. They'll have representative speaking in the keynote addresses. So we'll have a full angle here of what's going on in California and beyond.

Jessica Denson (23:02):

Is there still plenty of time to register? I know it's October 30th and 31st. Is there still time?

Brad Randall (23:08):

There's still time. Heads of BBC mag.com, that's our website, and it's the legacy of the Broadband Communities magazine. We went to a digital only, which makes sense because we're broadband communities. I can't think of many publications that should be digital only more than us. So go to bbc mag.com, click on one of the massive banner ads there for BBC West, learn more about it. And also, if you want to learn more about our summit in Houston, bbc mag.com/summit,

Jessica Denson (23:40):

Yeah, I'll include a link in the description of this podcast to make it easy on our listeners. Any final thoughts you want to leave us with about this event or just anything in general with the broadband space right now?

Brad Randall (23:54):

Yeah, come if you're interested in hearing from service provider perspectives on current investments, funding regulatory context, if you want to hear perspectives on policy updates, if you want to look towards 2030 and beyond past bead, how we're going to be using the networks, how people are going to fill potential gaps left by bead and the long-term advantages, fiber optic networks, how California has leveraged some of those technologies. I'm thinking of fiber optic sensing, where you can put sensors in fiber optic cabling that can detect earthquakes, can be used for traffic monitoring, so it increases the importance of designing routes so you can maximize return on investment. This technology can be utilized by highway departments. I believe they have it utilized in Highway Interstate 10 in California, so we'll have all sorts of interesting things. Yes.

Jessica Denson (24:52):

Well, I'm looking forward to it. I'm bringing the podcast and I'm looking forward to see you in person. Brad.

Brad Randall (24:57):

Thank you, Jessica. I appreciate your time today.

Jessica Denson (25:00):

I appreciate you again. We've been talking with Brad Randall, who is with Total Telecom, the company helping to organize this year's broadband community Summit West. As we mentioned, it's focused mainly on the connectivity needs of the Western regions of the us and it will be held October 30th and 31st in San Diego, California. We'll include a link to be able to register in the description of this podcast. Yours truly, as I mentioned, will be at the event doing interviews for our podcast. So if you see me, stop and let's talk. I'm Jessica Denson. Thanks for listening to Connected Nation. If you like our show and want to know more about us, head to connected nation.org or look for the latest episodes on iTunes, iHeartRadio, Google Podcast, Pandora, or Spotify.

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