What a Danish company now manufacturing in the US can do to help improve broadband buildouts

On this episode of Connected Nation, we ask what the Danish can do to help build out broadband in America? I talk to a rep with Lynddahl Telecom about the product they're now manufacturing in the US to do just that. 

Recommended links: 

Lynddahl Telecom website 

Pete Spehr, SVP of Sales, Lynddahl Telecom America - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pete-spehr-0437042/

 

Chapters

• 1:49 What is Lynddahl Telecom
• 6:46 BEAD planning
• 8:18 Broadband space in Denmark
• 9:35 Sharing the table with other companies
• 10:26 Pete's background
• 14:30 How to contact Lynddahl Telecom America

Transcript

Jessica Denson, Host (00:02):

This is Connected Nation, an award-winning podcast focused on all things broadband from closing the digital divide to improving your internet speeds. We talked technology topics that impact all of us, our families, and our neighborhoods.

(00:17):

On this episode, I ask the question, what can the Danish do to help build out broadband in America? I talk to a rep with Lynddahl Telecom about the product they're now manufacturing in the United States to improve build outs. I'm Jessica Denson, and this is Connected Nation.

(00:38):

We are now at day two of Mountain Connect in Denver, Colorado, taking place August 4th through the sixth. And I have un uh, unplugged, so to speak, and I'm wondering the exhibit hall. And I've come across a great exhibit that has lots of really cool stuff on it. We're gonna talk about it in a minute. It's called Lin Dahl Telecom. And Pete Sphere, who has joined me, has agreed to talk to me. Hi,

Jessica Denson, Host (00:59):

Pete. Yes, absolutely. Thank you, Jessica.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:01):

Um, your title is, uh, senior Vice President of Sales.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:04):

Yes.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:05):

Uhhuh <affirmative>. Uh, talk a little bit about what that is, what you do in that role.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:07):

So I work with the customers and, uh, I lead a team that does all the commercial operations and works on the customer experience. So when they order material and if we need to move it up to meet their project dates or if they want something special, which we do a lot of customized things as well as standard things. So, uh, I, I kind of head that up and work with our factory. So, uh, we're pretty agile with micro duct cables, Uhhuh,

Pete Spehr, SVP Sales, Lynddahl Telecome Americ (01:30):

There's

Jessica Denson, Host (01:30):

A lot of different flavors and sizes, and so we try to accommodate the customers who are trying to accommodate the fiber cables that go inside of them. So, yeah.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:39):

Yeah. So let's, let's talk a little bit about a little, let's go deeper into what you guys do. Sure. So you manufacture the, um, products that are used out in the field. Is that right?

Jessica Denson, Host (01:49):

That That's right.

(01:50):

Uhhuh, uh, Lindo Telecom America is a, well, Lindo telecom's a 50-year-old company in Denmark. And, uh, we had a three year plan, three and a half year plan to come to the US Uhhuh. Uh, so we didn't really make any announcements or whatever. We were coming. We knew, you know, it wasn't a, a gray area <laugh>. And, uh, uh, last January, 18 months ago, 19 months ago, uh, the governor of North Carolina announced it. And we have a factory, uh, about four miles from the Charlotte North Carolina airport. And we came in and, uh, in a matter of about three or four months, we were fulfilling orders. And, uh, right now we're expanding. We're adding additional lines, and it's been a real great experience. Microduct, you know, is coming on more and more in the US SDR pipes. The Uhhuh inch, uh, three and a quarter inch to two inch has been very commonplace for a lot of years. And micro duct has now been growing over the last, you know, 15 years. And about 30% of the market is micro duct and 70% is still SDR, which we've all been using for probably, you know, 40 years.

Jessica Denson, Host (02:53):

So, so is Micro Duck, is it more malleable? Is that what it is? Or what's, what's the benefits of using that over what we've done before?

Jessica Denson, Host (02:59):

It's got, well, first, first, um, it, it has a lot of value in terms of like, it can help you with, uh, greater densities, uh, and allow you additional conduits that you can put in secondary and third mm-hmm <affirmative>. Uh, uh, cables later. Like one we're looking at here is a 24 way, so you can put in a few cables now, but you have space and you don't have to go back and directional bore it later. And directional boring can be 10 to $15 a foot depending upon where you are. So you

Jessica Denson, Host (03:25):

Can, but you can get pretty expensive, and especially in rural.

Jessica Denson, Host (03:27):

Yeah. Yeah. And you wanna do it once, if you can

Jessica Denson, Host (03:29):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Jessica Denson, Host (03:30):

And then we can do any kind of size, uh, up to three quarter inch. And so it, it saves you money. It's a, it's a, it defers costs if you don't need it. Now, if you're not hooking up all these customers today, but you want to have a a a way to reach them later. Uh, but the other thing that's really cool is that the optical cables have been getting smaller and smaller in, in the micro cable space. But in addition to that, the optical fiber that goes into the optical cables instead of being 250 micron is now 200 micron. And, and some are down to 160 micron. So basically the, the optical fiber, the glass itself is getting so much smaller that you can get more fiber in a cable, therefore a cable's getting smaller. So you can use smaller conduits. So all of that leads to, uh, if you're directional boring or doing a trench mm-hmm <affirmative>. You can do a smaller trench, get more in it, and smaller trenches are less invasive if it's in somebody's yard, they don't want your, their yard dug up and it's also cheaper per foot. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So the cool thing is not only is there, uh, economic value and cost savings and cost deferral, but really the technology is pushing kinda like your, your phone. You know,

Jessica Denson, Host (04:36):

Uhhuh,

Jessica Denson, Host (04:37):

If you, if, I don't know if you had the fun of carrying a briefcase phone about 40 years ago,

Jessica Denson, Host (04:41):

My dad did. I remember.

Jessica Denson, Host (04:42):

Yeah. But now the, uh, uh, you know, the, what we have in our pockets with our, our iPhones,

Pete Spehr, SVP Sales, Lynddahl Telecome Americ (04:47):

Uhhuh, little, little,

Jessica Denson, Host (04:48):

It's amazing what we can do. And there's a little bit of a, uh, analogy there too. The fiber cable and the duct, you don't have to put in a massive, uh, you know, three, four inch pipe mm-hmm <affirmative>. Nowadays you can do it with a much smaller one. And that's 'cause of the glass itself.

Jessica Denson, Host (05:02):

Yeah. And what I'm looking at, just for our, uh, listeners, uh, so they can understand what we're looking at, or there's like several different, uh, versions of this. Yes. They're different colors, orange, green, but one of them has like, I don't know, what is that? 40, 30, uh, little, little cables within it. Um, there's little, there's all kinds of versions of this that you can use. It seems pretty malleable, almost. Almost like if you heat it a little bit, you can move it around.

Jessica Denson, Host (05:28):

Well, you know, these are just short samples, you know, uhhuh 10 inches long or so, and you know, you put it on a reel of 3000 feet. It, it's like cable. It's on a big reel,

Pete Spehr, SVP Sales, Lynddahl Telecome Americ (05:37):

Uhhuh.

Jessica Denson, Host (05:37):

And so yeah, it's, it's flexible even like the 24 way here. Um, and yes, you make a good point. What you're looking at, the ducks that have different stripes and things on them, we do all that. And we can do that for anybody here in the US and we can put anybody's name on it, Uhhuh <affirmative>. We can do all these special things. But really the primary, uh, color code here is the same as used in copper cable and fiber cable. It's the munsell system, the blue orange, green brown. These that you see with stripes

Pete Spehr, SVP Sales, Lynddahl Telecome Americ (06:05):

Uhhuh

Jessica Denson, Host (06:05):

In, in, uh, Europe where we've been doing a lot of things for, you know, 50 years. Uh, different countries require different, different, uh, striping. Whereas here in the US we do a lot of solid colors, but even there, we can put stripes or

Jessica Denson, Host (06:18):

Whatever they need on it

Jessica Denson, Host (06:19):

Or any print on there. You know. Now for example, we're baba fully baba compliant. And so we, we print, uh, made in America on some things 'cause that helps customers that, you know, wanna make sure

Jessica Denson, Host (06:30):

Yeah. That some of that's required with feed.

Jessica Denson, Host (06:32):

That's exactly right. Um,

Jessica Denson, Host (06:33):

And that is a, that is a big point. Um, there was a lot of talk as bead was, you know, over the last few years people were doing planning and talking about this million, the billions that were coming out. And yes, the money hasn't been spent yet.

Pete Spehr, SVP Sales, Lynddahl Telecome Americ (06:44):

Yes. <laugh> yes.

Jessica Denson, Host (06:45):

But there was a lot of talk about the need for more manufacturing that we weren't keeping up. Yes. That we weren't gonna keep up with what was gonna happen.

Pete Spehr, SVP Sales, Lynddahl Telecome Americ (06:52):

Yeah.

Jessica Denson, Host (06:53):

Are you guys prepared? Do you have a lot of the on the shelves or do you do it per your client?

Jessica Denson, Host (06:58):

Well, we, we, we do a lot of it made to order because there are a lot of variations you can get. There's many different sizes, uh, from a a six millimeter to 27 millimeter, and then you can get one, you know, pipe with a, um, over sheet around it. Or you can get 24. So there's a lot of different ways you can do it, but we do make some standards, but generally we make it per the custom order and we get the right length, just like a lot of fiber cable there. There's inventory on fiber cable, but the vast majority is made with a cut lengths and things in mind for specific projects. So, um, but yeah, we're, we're all kind of, uh, the industry is, is growing with the micro. There's about, you know, three or four key players making micro right now

Pete Spehr, SVP Sales, Lynddahl Telecome Americ (07:40):

Uhhuh.

Jessica Denson, Host (07:40):

And we, uh, while BEAT is coming, we're also seeing that the AI builds that are going on,

Jessica Denson, Host (07:46):

They're

Jessica Denson, Host (07:46):

Already happening. Yeah. They, they've gravitated Originally when some of that stuff was thought out, it was traditional SDR pipe, but more the, the three quarter inch to two inch. But we're seeing a lot of those projects using micro as well. 'cause the AI companies, um, they, they're wanting, uh, future, uh, space for additional cables

Jessica Denson, Host (08:05):

Proof.

Jessica Denson, Host (08:05):

Yeah. Yeah. So,

Jessica Denson, Host (08:06):

And the ai, AI is happening quickly. The president put out the AI plan, action plan recently. Um, so based in Denmark, but come here in the last few years. Uh, is the Denmark Broad, just curious, is the broadband space there pretty similar or is there different things that are interesting about it? Actually,

Jessica Denson, Host (08:24):

That's a really great question. 'cause in Europe, in like 2000

Jessica Denson, Host (08:27):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Pete Spehr, SVP Sales, Lynddahl Telecome Americ (08:28):

Uh,

Jessica Denson, Host (08:28):

So 25 years ago, they're all in on micro cables and micro ducts. That's all they've done. So if they got a two inch pipe that maybe be scratching their head a little bit, 'cause they don't, they don't do that. 'cause it, it makes larger trenches, it's more invasive on their streets. And in some cases the streets can be a thousand years old. Um, and to the counterside of that, I was a expat in Germany for a number of years, Uhhuh, and I brought, I was with a fiber manufacturer and I brought over ribbon cable samples. And at that time, ribbon was not used at all by Europe. So it's, it's interesting. We're all doing broadband and connecting homes and things, but their approach was more micro duct, uh, and micro cable 25 years ago, Uhhuh, where we've done a lot of work on very dense, uh, cables for AI builds. And that's all, a lot of, that's ribbon. So it is just interesting

Jessica Denson, Host (09:16):

Kind of an exchange of ideas and what's the best practices

Jessica Denson, Host (09:19):

And you getting to the same place, but the, the products that are used, they, that's just how, how it's kind of unfolded. So

Jessica Denson, Host (09:25):

Yeah. That's interesting. I love Denmark. I've been to Copenhagen.

Jessica Denson, Host (09:28):

Yes. Oh, it's a great's a great

Jessica Denson, Host (09:30):

Place. It's a cool place.

Jessica Denson, Host (09:30):

It really is. Yeah. Yeah.

Jessica Denson, Host (09:31):

Um, so I know, I know that you're sharing the table with a couple of different companies. Yes. Um, what is that about? Is that, that you guys are working together to, to fill different needs or?

Jessica Denson, Host (09:42):

Yes. We, we work with CMS,

Jessica Denson, Host (09:44):

Uh,

Jessica Denson, Host (09:45):

Uhhuh, who's a man rep here in, uh, in the mountain region. And they have multiple lines with the prism cables, which is micro cables. This is micro cable right here. Uhhuh. So very,

Jessica Denson, Host (09:54):

There's lots of cool stuff on the table. Y'all, <laugh>.

Jessica Denson, Host (09:56):

Yeah. And this, this one is a, uh, this is a 4 32, so it's crazy small a few years ago that, that just, it just wasn't available like that. And then, and then they have the aerial hardware mm-hmm <affirmative>. Uh, and just a mixture of different, uh, different products here. So yeah. So different customers coming through with different needs. So it's, uh, teaming with a company like this, they're able to work with different customers on different types of applications. So

Jessica Denson, Host (10:20):

That's, that's that's great. Yeah. We're a big believer in partnership is the only way this is gonna get done.

Jessica Denson, Host (10:23):

Yeah.

Jessica Denson, Host (10:24):

Where we connect everybody. So what about your background, Pete? Tell me a little bit about yourself. You said you were an expat in Germany?

Jessica Denson, Host (10:29):

Yeah, I was. I

Jessica Denson, Host (10:30):

Was for, yeah, I'm going to Munich later this year. Today.

Jessica Denson, Host (10:32):

Well, that's about where I, I was, I was in a town called Augsburg. Not far from there, but, oh. But yeah, so you'll have a lot of

Jessica Denson, Host (10:37):

Fun. Gimme me some tips.

Jessica Denson, Host (10:38):

<laugh>. Well enjoy that. And then just remember to go south a little bit 'cause the Alps are within reach and it is spectacular. But, uh, but yeah, I, I was over there and I was with OFS for, uh, 21 years now. They're like terra uh, running their nar uh, sales North American sales and, um, in this underground construction business for about 10 years before that. So, so yeah, I've been at it for a good long while. But, uh, always like the, the outside plant construction side and the crazy applications that people run into, whether, uh, it's a bridge crossing or dealing with squirrels or some other thing. I actually had a customer send us a picture of some of the cable we was installed in, uh, Alaska. And they sent me a video of polar bears.

Pete Spehr, SVP Sales, Lynddahl Telecome Americ (11:21):

Oh

Jessica Denson, Host (11:21):

My gosh. There was a coil, a slack of extra cable and polar bears were up there playing with it, like a hula hoop <laugh>. So not something we recommend by the way. That's, but, so anyways, but those are the things that I find interesting, interesting. And trying to solve problems and help people and train the new, the new folks coming up, uh, as to all the different tools we have to build the network. So

Jessica Denson, Host (11:42):

That's awesome. It's

Jessica Denson, Host (11:42):

A lot of funs.

Jessica Denson, Host (11:43):

How has your mountain connect been? Has it been a good experience?

Jessica Denson, Host (11:46):

It, it's been very good. It's been very good, very busy and, uh, some, some very good speakers. Uh, uh, so been enjoying that. And yeah, it's been very busy, a good, a good vibe to the show. So yeah.

Jessica Denson, Host (11:57):

I've been told that the internet community, the broadband community, the construction community is kind of a small community. Do you find that as well?

Jessica Denson, Host (12:04):

I, I do. I think it's a, it's a, um, you know, a lot of people have been at it for a lot of years and it's, it's, it's fun where you see new folks coming in and then you see the people who have been at it for a while. And the ev the evolution, like Dan Caruso spoke yesterday for the, the, uh, the opening, uh, presentation. And he spoke of the different companies, even referenced, uh, dial up modems and

Pete Spehr, SVP Sales, Lynddahl Telecome Americ (12:27):

<laugh>

Jessica Denson, Host (12:27):

And MFN and all these companies from a while ago. That was all during my career too. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So it made, made me feel like an old dog here, <laugh>. But, but it, but it's an interesting evolution as to how we get to where we are. And then he ended it talking about, you know, quantum, uh, you know, is a is coming on and that's gonna in in another five 10

Jessica Denson, Host (12:46):

Yeah. Plus years. That's gonna be interesting where it goes,

Jessica Denson, Host (12:47):

That that's gonna change things more. So,

Jessica Denson, Host (12:49):

Yeah. Japan did a terabit recently. Yeah. Like they had a terabit. I was like, I had to look up what that was. Yeah. I was like, wow. Well how fast is that?

Jessica Denson, Host (12:56):

Yeah,

Jessica Denson, Host (12:56):

It's, it's incredible.

Jessica Denson, Host (12:57):

Yeah. It really is.

Jessica Denson, Host (12:58):

Yeah. So, uh, where is Lyal? Uh, it's based in North Carolina. Yeah. But you've served the whole US

Jessica Denson, Host (13:04):

Lyal Telecom America serves all of North America

Jessica Denson, Host (13:07):

Uhhuh,

Jessica Denson, Host (13:07):

So, uh, US, Canada, and Mexico. And, um, our, uh, our parent company is actually on the other side of the country from Copenhagen, which is about three and a half, four hours away. But you know, some of our leadership is just on the fringe of Copen <laugh>, so it's not, not too far away, but, but we've been there for a lot of years making things, uh, under the Lyal name. It's a family name. It's Uhhuh, second, second generation, uh, CEO

Pete Spehr, SVP Sales, Lynddahl Telecome Americ (13:31):

There. Oh, that's cool.

Jessica Denson, Host (13:32):

And, um, but they've done everything from high, uh, high tech, uh, high risk, uh, hoses and, and things for like an oil re refine oil rigs out in the, in the sea.

Pete Spehr, SVP Sales, Lynddahl Telecome Americ (13:43):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Jessica Denson, Host (13:44):

Down to basic garden hoses and things. And a few years ago our founding partners went to them and say, Hey, there's not enough micro duct for Europe. And, um, have you thought about getting into that space? 'cause they do everything around making basically a duct, but they hadn't done anything for telecom. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And telecom's different 'cause it's big reels and 3000 foot or whatever they are. But it's different than making a smaller high tech product that goes on a oil rig out at

Pete Spehr, SVP Sales, Lynddahl Telecome Americ (14:11):

Sea Uhhuh.

Jessica Denson, Host (14:12):

And, uh, so it was a natural evolution and we've just been off and running. We've had multiple expansions in Denmark, um, and we're, we're expanding already. It's been basically a year and we're, we're expanding, uh, as we speak, getting new equipment in. So, yeah. And, and we think the future looks super bright. So, so,

Jessica Denson, Host (14:30):

So if, if someone wanted to get ahold of you and talk about Micro Deck, how would they do that? Are you on the website or?

Jessica Denson, Host (14:35):

I, I am So just Linda, all Telecom America is easy enough and uh,

Jessica Denson, Host (14:40):

I'll link that in the description of the podcast.

Jessica Denson, Host (14:42):

That, that would be great. That would absolutely be

Jessica Denson, Host (14:44):

Great. And are you on LinkedIn as well?

Jessica Denson, Host (14:45):

Yes, of course. I'm sorry, I'll include that as well. Alright. I should have thought about that one. Yeah. <laugh>. But yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Uh, yeah, if you link that and got a little funny spelling to the name, uh, Pete Spear. But yeah, they can find me pretty easily, so that would be wonderful. Okay. Love to help out with anybody that we can. So

Jessica Denson, Host (15:00):

Thank you. Pete Spear with Lyal Telecom America.

Jessica Denson, Host (15:04):

Absolutely. My pleasure. Thank you.

Jessica Denson, Host (15:11):

I am Jessica Denson. Thanks for listening to Connect to Nation. We'll continue our coverage from Mountain Connect 2025 on future episodes of the podcast. If you like our show and wanna know more about us, head to connect to nation.org or you can find us on all major podcast platforms.