Connected Nation

Get a little help navigating the broadband landscape in 2025

• Jessica Denson • Season 6 • Episode 5

Share episode

Navigating the broadband landscape in 2025 is no easy task—especially as new policies, technologies, and funding opportunities emerge. In this episode of Connected Nation, host Jessica Denson sits down with an Editor at TotalTelecom, to discuss the key broadband issues and opportunities state and local leaders should be watching.

They’ll explore the themes shaping the upcoming Connected America Conference in Dallas, Texas, on March 11-12, as well as the challenges and strategies for broadband expansion under a new administration.

Recommended Links: 

Brad Randall LinkedIn

Connected America 2025 Registration

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 with talk technology topics, and impact all of us, our families, and our neighborhoods. I'm Jessica Denson, and today my guest is Brad Randall, who is the editor for Total Telecom, the company organizing this year's Connected America conference taking place in Dallas, Texas, March 11th and 12th. Welcome, Brad. Brad Randall (00:33):

Hi, Jessica. Thanks for having me. Jessica Denson (00:35):

Yeah, thanks for joining us today. When I was preparing for this, I looked at your LinkedIn bio to see if I could find some new info since we've talked a couple of times and you're listed as Bradford, which do you prefer Brad or Bradford? Is that a family name? Brad Randall (00:51):

Since we know each other, you can call me Brad, but Bradford is a family name. I dunno if we have time for it. I'm related to Governor Bradford, who is the first governor of Plymouth Colony. The name died out in my family. My parents named me Bradford to keep it in the family. So Jessica Denson (01:07):

No, I think that's cool. Brad Randall (01:08):

It is pretty Jessica Denson (01:08):

Cool. You can't just say, I don't know if we have time for this, but back in the Plymouth time, Brad Randall (01:12):

Well, when I was growing up, I grew up right outside of Plymouth. I was given a hard time about it growing up. No one believed me, I don't think. Jessica Denson (01:22):

Oh, Brad Randall (01:22):

Really? Well, they said, well, your last name's not Bradford. You're just telling people that because your first name's Bradford. But I had a long story about why it was true. So long story short, I have a genealogy test. I'm going to confirm all this. Jessica Denson (01:35):

That's cool. That's actually pretty cool. I've never been to Plymouth. What's Plymouth like? Brad Randall (01:41):

It's like a quaint little New England town that blows up in the summer. Our Jessica Denson (01:45):

Populist and Brad Randall (01:46):

In the summertime is like three, four times what it is in the winter, and you have a tough time getting around because of all the tour buses and cruise boats coming in. It's a cool place to live though. Jessica Denson (01:58):

Yeah, a big piece of history there. That's pretty neat. Yeah, I imagine once because during the winters it probably just frozen over. Brad Randall (02:06):

Well, the novelty wore off for me when I was seven years old and went on my first field trip to Plymouth Plantation. Jessica Denson (02:14):

Oh Brad Randall (02:15):

Yeah. Because when you're from here, you don't think twice about it, but our summers are awesome. If you think about coming to Plymouth come during the summer, our August cannot be beat. Jessica Denson (02:27):

Oh yeah, I bet. It's just beautiful. Perfect temperatures and lovely. As I mentioned, we've talked before, but I want to remind people, our audience, a little bit about your background. You were a journalist before joining Total Telecom, correct? Brad Randall (02:43):

Guilty is charged, yes. In the print journalism trade. That's how I went to school, what I was brought up in my hometown. My father ran a local newspaper. So yeah, I used to work for the Nashville Telegraph was the editor of a few community newspapers around Boston before I went into trade shows. Jessica Denson (03:03):

Have you seen that? I know I'm throwing you a ball out of left field. Have you seen that thing on LinkedIn? It's hire a journalist. That journalist can do a little bit of everything. Yeah, it's pretty interesting. I used to be a journalist as well, and so a lot of friends have it. Hire a journalist, we can do a little bit of everything pretty much. Brad Randall (03:23):

Well, I think that's kind of my unofficial title here at Terrapin is Jack of All Trades. I kind of dabble in a lot of everything, so yeah, no, it's true. We can do everything. Jessica Denson (03:34):

It's true. We work fast, we work hard, and we love telling stories and preparing for this discussion. You and I chatted also before talking about your experience in New Hampshire, and I thought it was really interesting, something else that you just sort of threw out there, not Plymouth, but about meeting a lot of potential presidential candidates early on. Share some of that experience. That's pretty cool. Brad Randall (03:57):

Yeah. Well, when I was, gosh, this is over 10 years ago now. I was just out of college and trying to get my start, I was a newspaper reporter for the National Telegraph Daily Newspaper, second largest in New Hampshire. And it was right about the time where everyone started showing up for the 2016 election. And if you remember the GOP candidates, it was a very crowded field. There was like 20 people running. So I was at some of these early donor events and Trump went to a few of them. That's where I met him. I mean, we didn't have a conversation. I don't think he would pick me out of a lineup, but I saw how he worked, not surprised that he won, and that's not a political statement. I saw how he worked with people. I saw that he was pretty good at paying attention to everyone in the room so I could see something was happening early on. Jessica Denson (04:52):

Yeah, love him or hate him. He understood how to leverage media long before, so a lot of candidates for just the sake of people at home. The big organizations like the Networks, the MSNBCs, the Fox News, the cn, they get a lot of attention from all candidates, but he was pretty smart in talking to some of those smaller organizations as well. Brad Randall (05:16):

At these events, you'd see folks from CNN and Fox News and M-S-N-B-C, but he was calculated where he would go to the back of the room and that's where all the podcasters were set up and a bunch of people you'd never heard of before, but they had an audience with a select group of people and he would sit and talk to all of 'em. No other candidate did that. So I think in the moment that struck me as, Hmm, this is different and I'm just not surprised it paid it off because it was noticeable. Folks would arrive, they'd speak and they'd leave and they'd walk through the lobby by everyone out to the limo after they spoke. So Trump took a totally different approach. He was not inaccessible in the early days at all. Jessica Denson (06:07):

And there is something to be said for the local organizations around the country. Every city has multiple local journalists that aren't the big NBCs or the big networks, but all across the country they're scattered out. So when you told me that, I was like, oh, that is pretty savvy because that's a huge reach more than I think the average person or even the average politician would realize. So let's talk about your current company, total Telecom and what the organization does. I know Terrapin purchased it or the other way around. Why don't you explain how the two fit together and what the role is right now? Brad Randall (06:48):

Yeah, so Total Telecom has been a brand of Terrapin for a while, but end of 2023 is when they purchased broadband communities. And broadband communities has been around for about 20 years on its own. Since Terrapin acquired us, we've just kind of gotten bigger and better and that's kind of my initial role. Connected America. I'm involved in now just as an American editor who's involved in broadband communities. There's heavy crossover. I went to the event last year and I'm going back again this year and now I'm going to be the chair of the event. So it's Connected. America is a newer show. It's really appealing to almost anyone who's involved in connectivity on any level, public or private sector. Broadband community summit in June. We have more of a specific focus. Connected America is much more broadly focused and it's honestly a very fun event to attend because of that. I enjoy it. Jessica Denson (07:50):

Some of the conference, the conference again is March 11th and 12th. I have those dates right in Dallas, which is easy to fly into, which I appreciate. I will be there as well with the podcast, but talk about some of the focus, expand upon that it's digital future. So that encompanies quite a large swath of groups. Correct? Brad Randall (08:14):

Yeah. And as we were saying, it's really 35,000 feet looking down. So you have people from the public sector there, people from private sector, people in mobile fiber, and we'll talk about what the big issues are coming up in 2025. It's an annual summit. So every year we do that, and I think this year kind of the main theme, it's not written down on our six themes, but it's stronger together in uncertain times, which few would argue that we're in right now from within the industry, at least from those that I've spoken to in uncertain times. People kind of lean on each other, and so I think that's where we are here. Jessica Denson (08:55):

Yeah, I do think there's something to be said for that. The idea of networking face-to-face, having those conversations in person, it's a different feel than doing the digital side of it where it's just a Zoom meeting or a phone call. I've seen it personally when I've been at these other conferences that you guys have had where I've been in the hallway and heard conversations that I'm like, oh wow, that's interesting. I'm going to go talk to them. You and your team are really building the conference though around several key themes. You have six themes this year. Do you want to run down and maybe expand on a couple? Brad Randall (09:31):

Sure. We have our keynotes, and that doesn't change every year. We got those and we have Gigabit America, which is kind of more of a strategic look at investment in regulatory strategies, connected networks, which is the challenges and realities of building fiber and 5G across the country, smart America, which is delivering smart places from cities and towns to connectivity solutions that can be used on properties. It's all encompassing. Think like smart buses and things like that. I'm always surprised by what you see in Smart America, digital America, which is exploring the digital skills gap in public and private sector enterprises and then connected societies, which is kind of different, but of the same ilk where it's making sure no one's left behind. It's kind of exploring the digital divide with access included, not just skills, and then connected industries, which is the potential of technology connectivity to transform infrastructure and enterprises and transform your bottom line. So those are our themes and gosh, I don't think it leaves anything out, Jessica. Jessica Denson (10:43):

I don't think it does. Are there any particular sessions that you're excited about or exhibitors that are coming this year that you're excited about? Brad Randall (10:53):

Well, we have 150 exhibitors, solution providers, and it's always fun to kind of cruise through the exhibition floor and see who's there as for who, I'm excited to see a panel that I'm excited to see. I guess I would really pump up bead state of play. What's going to happen to the bead program is a main question on top of mind all across the country with providers. So we will have bead state of play giving you an update from people who are in the thick of it. And you can also, by the way, go to BBC mag.com to follow our ongoing coverage of this as we do post-analysis pretty frequently. Now diving into the BEAD program and what you should expect, long story short, continue taking advantage of it. Jessica Denson (11:43):

We talked a little bit about the importance of networking and being face to face and there's a lot of uncertainty right now and how that can help ease some of that. What are some concerns or things that you're really hearing people focus on out and about? Because I do know you guys do a lot of great coverage on broadband access and connectivity and that type of thing. So what are some things that you're really hearing? Brad Randall (12:09):

It's really unforeseen consequences of policy decisions that don't seem to initially impact broadband, but could Tariffs is a good example. I know we have by American Build American requirements, but a lot of it is still sourced from overseas and it's not all with the bead program. Webinars for telemedicine programs at the USDA have been canceled, so information is going to be harder to come by, at least it has been in the past few weeks and months. Uncertainty behind some of how these policy decisions may impact the industry at large. I mean, tariffs, it's not predictable, it hasn't been, and it seems like it can change based on what happens that day. So it's kind of a day by day thing, and that creates a wide level of uncertainty behind investment decision making, and you won't see it necessarily with immediate impacts, but those conversations are happening and then just read today, consumer confidence in this country has taken a hit. People are less likely to spend money at the current moment and providers who have departments that are researching this type of stuff, they'll be well aware of that and so they'll adjust as well. Jessica Denson (13:36):

And it's hard to say because something we might bring up today could change tomorrow because you're right, this what we call in the news world, this news cycle is not just a news cycle, but it's just an information cycle, a change cycle. It's moving so quickly, it's hard to know everything from what's happening in the courts to the executive side, to the congressional side, to what's happening in business. All of this is just churning, and I know it's a lot to ask, but you host a podcast called Beyond the Cable and interview a lot of industry insiders and leaders. Is there a common thread that they're saying? Are they also saying we're trying to see what's going to happen before we make major decisions? Are people holding back in general, not just the public? Brad Randall (14:25):

The common thread is I spoke to rural broadband partners very recently and they'll be at Connected America. The common thread is that it seems like the goal of really equality in terms of access is put on the back burner, but there's a lot of people that have committed, well, I'm just going to be upfront a lifetime to this. And that train doesn't stop just because of an election. So it's going to be what is the inertia to keep that going outside of government and is it strong enough to make an impact? And so I've spoken to some good people who are not changing their plans for the next few years based on the election. They're going to continue focusing on digital skills and digital equity. So we'll see how that plays out, and I think it's going to be something that's very important to watch. Jessica Denson (15:22):

And as we look ahead to 2025 and beyond, do you have any ideas or predictions or thoughts or should we just come and attend and see what people are talking about? Brad Randall (15:35):

Yeah, I mean predictions, no thoughts. Thoughts is that nothing truly happens in a vacuum. I'll tell you, I gave up on predictions a long time ago, but nothing happens in a vacuum. For instance, one of the stated goals that we have politically in this country is to bring manufacturing back. And in order to do that, we need automation, which requires high bandwidth networks, Jessica Denson (16:04):

And Brad Randall (16:04):

A lot of those networks will be built with parts from foreign countries, which will become harder to acquire. And so export controls that kind of pop up out of nowhere create challenges to supply chains. It takes a long time to identify manufacturers and things like that. So main thoughts is people should be prepared for impacts because it looks likely that they're going to happen. Jessica Denson (16:32):

And we didn't even touch on the fact that there's all these states trying to implement this bead planning and these things all at once, and there was already a lack of equipment that was needed and materials. And so it's going to be an interesting couple of years for sure. Again, the Connected America Conference will take place March 11th and 12th in Dallas, Texas, and I'll include a link to the conference in the description of this podcast. And Brad, is there still time for people to get tickets for the event? Anything else you would want to add that we should definitely know? Brad Randall (17:08):

There's absolutely time to still get tickets. Just search Connected America 2025 in your search bar, and you can follow along in our coverage where we will be kind of promoting what to expect at the conference and just stay tuned to what we're covering because it is changing day by day, and so to stay on top of it, that's really my advice. Jessica Denson (17:30):

Yeah, I think it'll be an interesting couple of days because it's going to be a lot different in a few weeks than it is now. I'm looking forward to seeing you there in person. Brad. Brad Randall (17:40):

I'm looking forward to seeing you too. And what I'm really excited to hear is from some of the public sector people in states and cities like we have digital equity folks from the city of Dallas, that'll be there. I'm interested to see kind of where they're at right now. Jessica Denson (17:55):

Yeah, it should be interesting conversations Brad Randall (17:59):

Followed Jessica Denson (17:59):

Up by more conversations. Right? Again. Yeah. Well, thank you again, Brett. I appreciate Brad Randall (18:04):

You. Thanks, Jessica. Jessica Denson (18:12):

Again, we've been talking with Brad Randall, who is with Total Telecom, the company helping to organize this year's Connected America conference. Again, I'll include a link to the conference in the description of this podcast. Sounds like one you don't want to miss. We'll be bringing the Connected Nation podcast to the conference, and I'd love to talk to you. So if you see me, stop by and let's chat. 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, iHeart Radio, Google Podcast, Pandora, or Spotify.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Jessica Denson

Host