Is BEAD the worst thing to happen to rural America? Why one industry insider says "yes"

On this episode of Connected Nation, we talk with leadership from the Minnesota Telecom Alliance. Learn how they work with co-ops and family ISPs to help them stay ahead of the curve, what it's like working with the state broadband office in Minnesota, and why they believe BEAD is one of the worst things to happen to rural broadband in America.

Coming Thursday, April 2, 2026:  register for the Virtual Town Hall Meeting 

Recommended links:

Minnesota Telecom Alliance website
Brent's LinkedIn

You’re invited to join Connected Nation’s experts on Thursday, April 2 for a special virtual town hall meeting that explores what’s happening with high-speed internet across the country. Register here: bit.ly/BroadbandFutures

Transcript

Jessica Denson (00:08):

On this episode of Connected Nation, we continue our coverage from the Broadband Nation Expo. This time we talk with leadership from the Minnesota Telecom Alliance. We learn how they work with co-ops and family ISPs to help them stay ahead of the curb, what it's like working with the state broadband office and find out why they believe BEAD is one of the worst things to happen to rural broadband in America. I'm Jessica Denson, and this is Connected Nation.

We are at day two of the Broadband Nation Expo taking place in Orlando, Florida. And we are in exhibit Hall. And I have had the pleasure to be joined by Brent Christensen with the Minnesota Telecom Alliance. Thank you, Brent, for Good Morning. Coming in today, he kind of snuck up on me. I was setting up the booth <laugh>, arranging things, and suddenly he was there like a ghost of mourning or a Christmas past or something.

Brent Christensen (01:07):

<laugh>, I don't know. Well, I told you, you think my name I shall appear. <laugh> <laugh>.

Jessica Denson (01:09):

It was what, I really appreciate you coming in. Yeah. Um, let me do it. I I met you yesterday. You were with Pree Mackey who was with the Broad, the Minnesota Broadband office. Uh, how was your, uh, dinner last night? I saw you at, had

Brent Christensen (01:20):

A good dinner place. Yeah, we, uh, uh, went to the, the Italian restaurant here, and the food was amazing.

Jessica Denson (01:26):

Yeah, I kind of, uh, nibbled off my friend's plate who was there. That's why. Yeah. I wasn't really spying <laugh>. Anyway. So, uh, Brent, uh, tell us a little bit about the Minnesota Telecom Alliance and what your, what your role is in the state and even at larger nationwide.

Brent Christensen (01:42):

Yeah, so the MTA is a trade association. We're a 5 0 1 C3 C five, or C six, sorry, nonprofit. Um, and we represent the interest of, of rural broadband providers throughout the state of Minnesota. Um, it started off in 1909 as a Minnesota Telephone Association. Um, I haven't been near the entire time <laugh>, but, uh, a chunk of it. Uh, and we, our members are, are, they're about half of them. 

They're 42 active telcos that, that I represent. About half of 'em are co-ops. The other half are family owned, uh, some privately held, publicly traded, and, uh, with all one mission. And that's to deploy better and better broadband throughout the state of Minnesota. Uh, my background, I, I come from the industry. Mm-hmm

Jessica Denson (02:27):

<affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (02:27):

I'm a fifth generation telephone guy, uh, whose family has a telephone company in Melia, Minnesota. And I had served on the board of MTA and, uh, chaired the legislative committee and did some other things. And then I moved into the, uh, role I have today.

Jessica Denson (02:42):

Um, for people that aren't in the indu in the, in the industry, the idea that there are 42 different organizations that serve internet across the country or across the, just the state of Minnesota might be a little surprising, but explain why it's so important to have that number and, um, their role with co-ops and family owned versus maybe the big carriers.

Brent Christensen (03:06):

Yeah. So our membership, um, I mean, our largest member is Lumen and our smallest member has, uh, 260 customers and, and everything in between. So we represent a, a wide range, and we don't, other than Lumen don't have much of a presence in the Twin Cities metro area, but we cover most of the rest of the state. And, you know, we have history. Most of our companies have been around for 7,500 years. 

Uh, and we have a history of providing quality service, uh, to our customers. I remember when I was in high school, uh, I was working at the phone company when my grandpa owned it, and he was telling me how important it it was to keep the telephone vibrant in the community. We were like the veins that run through the community and, and we have to, to keep it going. 

And it's, it's our mission. And, and I, I was thinking to myself, I, I don't know why you're telling, I didn't say this out loud, but I said, <laugh>, I don't know why you're telling me this. I am never gonna do this. Well, next spring will be here. We be 30 years in the industry, so,

Jessica Denson (04:01):

Wow. 30 years. And what are some lessons that I think that's really interesting that your family was part of it. What are some lessons or things that you've taken with you along the way? 'cause I mean, if you're running an organization that really, uh, represents other family organ, other family ISPs and stuff, what are, it's kind of a unique system compared to some, some other ISPs.

Brent Christensen (04:23):

You know, I, I think we all have a, uh, the mentality of the fourth regulator in our industry. We're regulated by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, uhhuh, the Department of Commerce and the FCC. But the fourth regulator is the one that matters most of us. And that's the consumer. 

Um, telecommunications is the only competitive utility. There are no others. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. There's no competition, electric or gas or water in Minnesota. It's just us. It, we have to, to keep, you know, we have to keep ahead of what the customer needs. I tell people all the time that our job is to be one step ahead of what the customer needs.

Jessica Denson (04:58):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (04:58):

If we're two steps ahead, we're at the bleeding edge and we can't pay for it. And if we're even with 'em, we're too late. So we have to be able to have a network that can sustain the, the services that they need before they need it.

Jessica Denson (05:08):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (05:09):

And, and that's what we focus on. And all of our members do that. And, and expanding into areas that aren't otherwise served well. And so that's, that's our focus.

Jessica Denson (05:18):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Uh, we are in the exhibit hall and there's a baby, and the baby's not happy right now, but the baby's very cute. <laugh>,

Brent Christensen (05:25):

Uh, very, very cute baby.

Jessica Denson (05:26):

Yeah. A very cute baby.

Brent Christensen (05:28):

Got a bottle, obviously is not a good broadband at home.

Jessica Denson (05:30):

We could terrible

Brent Christensen (05:30):

Broadband. We could get him hooked

Jessica Denson (05:31):

Up. That's probably why he's here at this, uh, conference. Right. He's like looking for a better broadband

Brent Christensen (05:35):

Provider. <laugh>. Yeah. Well, we have him in Minnesota.

Jessica Denson (05:37):

There you go. So, uh, also, I, I just wanna, um, I don't think I a asked my earlier question very well. I was trying to get to the point of with working at a family organization, is it that the whole community is like your uncle who's calling you and saying, Hey, where's my access? Where's my connectivity? Is there like kinda a family atmosphere that permeates throughout the area that they serve?

Brent Christensen (06:03):

There is, particularly with the staff. I mean, a lot of the staff, there's only eight in our company. There's only eight employees, and, and they've been around for, for a long time. And so it's definitely a, a family feel there. And that's the good news. And the bad news is there's a family feel there, and you can't, so if there's drama, you can't get away from it. 

Uhhuh, but, but more for the community. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. I think it's, um, you know, small towns have their own feel and, and the small towns that we serve, they know us. You know, I, I had, when I was the, before I took this job, uh, there was a lady who was upset with her bill, who lived in the next block. She came to my house and, and, and pulled up in the driveway and was complaining about her bill.

Jessica Denson (06:40):

Oh, no. Uh,

Brent Christensen (06:40):

That happens. Uhhuh, you know, I, a couple years later, we moved to the country. So that doesn't happen as much

Jessica Denson (06:44):

Anymore. You can't find me now.

Brent Christensen (06:45):

Yeah. Well, yeah. But they can, and they know you.

(06:49):

And when you're sitting at the chamber meeting and when you're, when you're in, you know, city hall and, and things, and you're, you're having people that, that say, Hey, I need this. Well, we try to find a way to make that happen. Um, the whole reason that we got into to internet and our, our family's company was in 2000, uh, the Polaris dealer in town came to me. 

He lived two doors down, came to my house and he says, I can't sell any more snowmobiles. I said, well, I, that's gotta, we gotta fix that. He said, the problem is that Polaris makes you download the warranty application. They want the customer to sign it, and then you have to scan it and send it back. And you can't do that over dial up.

Jessica Denson (07:26):

Oh, yeah.

Brent Christensen (07:27):

So within two weeks we had him on a DSL connection. I didn't know anything about DSL. I didn't, you know, I had to go out and learn and mm-hmm <affirmative>. Fortunately, um, the industry's very close knit. And so I had resources and people to talk to, and we got it going, and then we didn't know what to charge for it because we couldn't charge him what it cost. 'cause that would be cost

Jessica Denson (07:45):

Prohibitive. Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (07:46):

So we had to figure out what the lifespan of the equipment was and what we could get it down to and what was reasonable. And, and we worked it all out. Um, and that was a screaming 600 or a 768 K

Jessica Denson (07:57):

Wow.

Brent Christensen (07:58):

<laugh> connection in 2000. And now we offer gig service. So,

Jessica Denson (08:01):

So there's so much to unpack with that one, because first off, snowmobiles, you're still <laugh>.

(08:06):

Yeah.

(08:07):

So I can imagine that the build, um, uh, season is very small or smaller than a lot of states in Minnesota.

Brent Christensen (08:14):

Yeah.

Jessica Denson (08:15):

Uh, talk about that a little bit,

Brent Christensen (08:17):

The challenges

Jessica Denson (08:17):

Of that. You know,

Brent Christensen (08:18):

That's, that is a, it's a big challenge. Um, and since 2012, you know, you've talked with Brie, we've had our, our border to border broadband grant program

Jessica Denson (08:25):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (08:26):

And so we have to, we really have to do that as a partnership with the state, because we can't, I mean, we can get awarded the money, but that doesn't mean we can get everything and get it in the ground

Jessica Denson (08:36):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (08:37):

And you can't even order the equipment before you get the grant. So there's a lot of obstacles. And the biggest obstacle we have now is permitting and getting the permits in a timely fashion, uhhuh, uh, particularly from the railroads, and, um, getting that all figured out so that we can, we can close it out in two years.

Jessica Denson (08:52):

There was, uh, there was a panel on the, the day before the pre-day or whatever it was mm-hmm <affirmative>. They were talking about the railroads. Yeah. And some challenges with that. Why is it so difficult to work with the railroads?

Brent Christensen (09:03):

Um, <laugh>, I'm not sure I want to answer that. No, <laugh>. Um, you know, a lot of it I think is, you know, the railroads were built in the 18 hundreds on our eminent domain, and they still have that mentality. Ah. Uh, one of the battles that we've had with a railroad is in, in Minnesota, we passed a law a few years ago that if the crossing is in a public right of way, then, then they are owed no fee. Mm-hmm

Jessica Denson (09:29):

<affirmative>. I mean,

Brent Christensen (09:29):

It's a public right of way. They, they shouldn't have access. It shouldn't be paid for that. Um, if it's on a private right of way, it's a onetime fee of $1,250. And we have had railroads tell us, well, prove to us it's a public right of way. Well, it's a county road. Wow. Well, no, the first one there, whether it's the, that road or the railroad determines whether it's public right of way or not. No. That's not how the law works, <laugh>. That's, that's not how any of this works. And

Jessica Denson (09:56):

So, so it's just exasperating

Brent Christensen (09:57):

Yeah. It just is. Yeah. And you know, you have railroads that are, that play games. Um, uh, there's one railroad that, um, if you go online and you fill out their application online mm-hmm <affirmative>. They're gonna charge you five, six, 700,000 or $7,000.

Jessica Denson (10:11):

Geez.

Brent Christensen (10:12):

Um, but in which is

Jessica Denson (10:14):

Cost prohibitive

Brent Christensen (10:14):

<laugh>. Well, and it's outside the scope of the law,

Jessica Denson (10:16):

Uhhuh <affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (10:17):

And, but in order to follow the law, you have to download an application and send it to 'em certified mail in order to not pay that fee. Well, they don't make that clear. They don't want to, you know, they're, they're trying to, trying to get money out of 'em. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. It's that we've, those things, those little shenanigans that it's just a,

Jessica Denson (10:32):

Just a little frustrating. Yeah.

Brent Christensen (10:33):

It's,

Jessica Denson (10:33):

Yeah.

Brent Christensen (10:34):

Yeah. It truly is. Yeah.

Jessica Denson (10:35):

So, uh, we kind of touched on the family side of your role. What about the co-op side? Is there a different approach when you deal with a co-op or when a co-op is working as the ISP for a community?

Brent Christensen (10:47):

I, I have not found a difference. Uhhuh. I mean, I, I think the mentality, the service to the community, I think that's all the same. Um, you know, co-ops and, and, and even some of our publicly traded companies, you know, they're, they have a mentality of they want to get the best quality service to the consumers

Jessica Denson (11:04):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (11:04):

Uh, and, and so they, you know, they, they take longer life expectancy for equipment. They'll take longer return on investment. And, and they're okay with that. And, and I, I haven't found any of my members that aren't doing that. You know, there's some publicly traded companies that, that don't do that, that they can't do that 'cause of, they're, they're stockholders. But for, for people that don't have stockholders, um, that's, that's really, that's really the same.

Jessica Denson (11:29):

It takes away that barrier.

Brent Christensen (11:30):

Yeah.

Jessica Denson (11:31):

So talk about Minnesota. We already talked about the fact that there may, there's a limited some build season Yep. That, uh, that is a smaller window than some states.

Brent Christensen (11:41):

Yep.

Jessica Denson (11:42):

Excuse me. And, but what is the, what is the, um, the state? Like, is it mostly rural? Is it, are there big urban pockets? Uh, kind of give people an who've never been to Minnesota?

Brent Christensen (11:54):

Yeah. I, that's a really good question because, um, there are the, the vast majority of people who live in Minnesota are in the, the seven county, metro area. Um, and then once you get outside the, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and there's suburbs and those counties around them, then it, then it gets pretty rural. Um, but we have, we have pockets. 

We have, we have Duluth, we have Rochester, we have Morehead, which is attached to Fargo. We have, you know, the St. Cloud area. Uh, so we do have some, some urban and quasi urban pockets that, that, that we deal with and we serve.

Jessica Denson (12:30):

Uh, I've always wanted to go to Minneapolis. I need to make that some kind of, one of my trips in the next couple of years. Okay. Because I've heard it's a, that area, the Twin Cities is a really neat place to go.

Brent Christensen (12:39):

Yeah. Yeah, it is. I, I, you know, I, I live two hours from the Twin Cities Uhhuh on a five acre farm, and so I don't have any desire to go. But

Jessica Denson (12:49):

<laugh> <laugh>, do you farm anything

Brent Christensen (12:51):

Or is it just No, we just live on the farm site

Jessica Denson (12:52):

And enjoy it. Yep. Yeah, that sounds great.

Brent Christensen (12:54):

And I have as much bandwidth at my house as I did in my office in St. Paul.

Jessica Denson (12:59):

Oh, wow. That's incredible.

Brent Christensen (13:00):

Yeah.

Jessica Denson (13:01):

And is that's your, your ISP?

Brent Christensen (13:02):

Well, yeah, yeah.

Jessica Denson (13:04):

What's the name of your ISP

Brent Christensen (13:05):

Christensen Communications.

Jessica Denson (13:06):

Great. Oh, very good. Yeah. Brent Christensen. I get it. <laugh>. <laugh>. So tell me a little bit about you. Uh, I do this to everybody, so don't feel like I'm targeting you.

(13:13):

Okay.

(13:13):

Uh, talk a little bit about your background. And you know what, I know you talked about that it was a family thing, but No, what was it like growing up in Minnesota? Have you gone anywhere else, or is that you a lifelong

Brent Christensen (13:24):

Minnesota? No, I, uh,

Jessica Denson (13:25):

Is it Minnesota in, what is it?

Brent Christensen (13:27):

Minnesotan. Minnesotan,

Jessica Denson (13:28):

Yeah.

Brent Christensen (13:28):

Got it. Minnesotan <laugh>. Um, I lived there. I lived, uh, actually in the Twin Cities until I was 14.

Jessica Denson (13:34):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (13:34):

And then my, uh, dad took a job in Florida, and we lived in Coral Springs, Florida for four years. And then I went to Austin, Texas to go to college. Uh,

Jessica Denson (13:43):

Hey, that's where I grew up.

Brent Christensen (13:44):

Is

Jessica Denson (13:44):

It? Yeah.

Brent Christensen (13:45):

Oh, well, I met a local girl and, and, uh, got married.

Jessica Denson (13:48):

Yeah. Those Texans are awesome.

Brent Christensen (13:49):

They are. And, uh, uh, lived there for 16 years and had raised four kids. And then, uh, then my dad said it was time to get a real job, so I went to work for him as a install repair technician.

Jessica Denson (14:01):

That's awesome.

Brent Christensen (14:02):

So, yeah.

Jessica Denson (14:02):

Yeah. And, uh, so you have, how many kids do you have?

Brent Christensen (14:05):

I have four.

Jessica Denson (14:05):

Four. Are they still in Minnesota or still

Brent Christensen (14:07):

About, I've

Jessica Denson (14:07):

Got

Brent Christensen (14:07):

Two of them in Minnesota and one is in, and one's still in Austin. Uhhuh

Jessica Denson (14:11):

<affirmative>. So, okay. So let's go back to the business of things. Yeah. Uh, where do you think things are gonna be in 2026, um, for Minnesota and working? I know the state broadband program. I know Brie is doing everything she can. I I had a great conversation with you, her, as you mentioned.

Brent Christensen (14:26):

Yeah.

Jessica Denson (14:27):

And, um, but what do you think's next for 2026? Do you see shovels in the ground for the bead stuff? Do you see a lot of positive movement forward, or, or what's your prediction? <laugh>, and now I know it's been crazy, so IIII won't hold you to any of these predictions.

Brent Christensen (14:42):

I, well, thank you. Um, I am probably, I, I always like to think of myself as a glass is half full kind of guy,

Jessica Denson (14:49):

Uhhuh,

Brent Christensen (14:49):

But when it comes to bead, I don't think that, and, and, uh, I've said this before and I'll say it again, I think bead mm-hmm <affirmative>. The concept of it was great. Um, but it is the worst thing that's happened to world broadband ever.

Jessica Denson (15:02):

Oh, really?

Brent Christensen (15:02):

And I wish, I wish it never would've happened. Um,

Jessica Denson (15:05):

And explain that.

Brent Christensen (15:05):

Well, we're four years into it and not a dollars out the door.

Jessica Denson (15:09):

Yeah.

Brent Christensen (15:09):

Uh, it stalled, um, all our border to border. We weren't putting a lot of money in every year comparatively mm-hmm <affirmative>. But we were, the legislature was putting money in our border to border grant program. We were moving along, we were moving the needle, we were going, that all stopped when we got, got told that bead was gonna happen.

Jessica Denson (15:26):

Yeah.

Brent Christensen (15:26):

Um, changing administrations change in, in focus, change in plans. Some things got fixed, then things got made worse.

Jessica Denson (15:33):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (15:33):

Uh, and here we are and nothing's still out the door. Um, and then once, let's say it does go out the door, which I'm highly skeptical about <laugh>, uh, then

Jessica Denson (15:42):

We're understandably

Brent Christensen (15:43):

Yeah. And everybody's focused and everybody's talking about bead. But we've got so many other things that are going on in the industry that, that are putting shovels in the ground and doing things. Uh, reconnect got, uh, 10 is out the door

Jessica Denson (15:54):

With USDA,

Brent Christensen (15:55):

With USDA mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, universal Service Fund. I mean the a, a commitments and the, all the other things that have gone through the high cost fund and universal service, um, that has to get, the contribution mechanism has to get fixed for that.

Jessica Denson (16:07):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (16:08):

We got serious things to, to focus on here. And, and, and, and to me, beat is a distraction. And, and if it comes out the door, and I'm wrong, I'll be the first one to say it, but it's just, it has slowed our progress down to a crawl mm-hmm <affirmative>. And it's not good.

Jessica Denson (16:23):

It's frustrating. 'cause you feel like we've been promised this over and over and nothing's gone forward. Yeah. And so other things have

Brent Christensen (16:30):

Waited. Yeah.

Jessica Denson (16:31):

Which you under, I could understand why a state legislature would say, oh, let's see if this other, these billions come through.

Brent Christensen (16:36):

Well,

Jessica Denson (16:36):

Yeah.

Brent Christensen (16:36):

I mean, I can't, I can't go to the legislature and say, Hey, I think you need to fund a program.

Jessica Denson (16:40):

Right.

Brent Christensen (16:40):

When you got, you know, money hanging out the door for, for Fed. Yeah.

Jessica Denson (16:43):

Completely understand that. Uh, that would be frustrating as an ISP or somebody who's leading an organization that's trying to even consult with or help other ISPs and other groups grow. So, you know, there's all this talk about AI is, is is there a place for that in the smaller groups or for Minnesota, or are you guys looking at that?

Brent Christensen (17:04):

Absolutely. Um-huh. I mean, I use AI almost every day now. You know, with, with supplementing, it's a tool.

Jessica Denson (17:11):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (17:11):

You know, it's, it's, it's not the, uh, it's not the the answer the solution. It's, it's a tool. I heard, uh, one of the speakers from yesterday, I had a chance to talk with him, and, and he gave me a whole nother perspective on AI and, and having it closed for your community so you can, you know, use it as an economic development tool. And, and Oh,

Jessica Denson (17:31):

That's

Brent Christensen (17:31):

A great idea. Use it own local base. I think it's fantastic. So instead of big data centers for ai, you have smaller ones into just for the communities. And that to me sounded like the old local exchange mm-hmm <affirmative>. Telephone thing. So, you know, it's more specific. The information's locked down. And I mean, I think that's the biggest thing. We know what AI can do for us, and it's constantly improving. 

Yeah. And I, and I think, and it's here to stay mm-hmm <affirmative>. So I, I think the more we can learn about it, the more we can to, to determine how we can apply it to our daily lives and to our businesses and, and make things better, uh, and easier. I mean, when I started at the phone company 30 years ago, we would have to come in once a week and change out magnetic tapes that tracked toll calls.

(18:15):

Oh, wow. <laugh>. I mean, that's how, and then in 99 we got a new switch and we didn't have to do that anymore. We thought we'd died and gone to have it. Well, the, just the evolution of the switches over the years to, to transmit call, they don't exist anymore. Really. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

They're, they're, they're soft switches, or they're routers and which are glorified routers. And, and you know, that's the, that's where the industry's going. Well, AI is just another piece in that, you know, and I, I think if it's handled well and used well, I think it's gonna be a big benefit. 

Uh, there's gonna be, I mean, you think, you see all the, the things AI can do it, it can, it could create you saying something you never said. I know. <laugh>, you know, and that's, there's gotta be a, now we're gonna have to figure out how to solve that problem,

Jessica Denson (18:57):

Right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (18:58):

So these are problems we never thought we'd have, and there are opportunities we never thought we'd have. Mm-hmm

Jessica Denson (19:01):

<affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (19:01):

So I don't think it's an end all be all. I think it's just another tool, another arrow on our quiver.

Jessica Denson (19:06):

I think it's a great approach to it. Um, I won't keep you all day, I promise. Uh, but last question, you know, connectivity, and we talked about rural connectivity. You said bead was one of the worst things that happened to it. I understand totally your point of view with that. 

How important is it for us to get rural America connected, not just in Minnesota, but across the country? Uh, what is the, what are we missing if that doesn't happen?

Brent Christensen (19:33):

Oh, <laugh>. I don't know how you're gonna be able to function in this century without adequate broadband.

Jessica Denson (19:41):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (19:41):

And that goes back to, you know, my, my comment about being one step ahead of the customer's needs because that, that bandwidth and that desire for speed is constantly evolving and constantly growing.

Jessica Denson (19:52):

Mm-hmm

Brent Christensen (19:53):

<affirmative>. And we have to, we have to meet those needs. And if you don't, um, you're gonna be isolated and you're gonna be left out.

Jessica Denson (20:00):

Mm-hmm

Brent Christensen (20:00):

<affirmative>. And it's, you know, I, I hate the analogy of rural electrification because a rural electrification wasn't a monopoly. It was a build it. And they will come. We don't have that in telecommunications anymore. It's not build it and they will come. 

You have to get the customers commit, and then you can build to them. 'cause you're not guaranteed to get 'em. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, is, is, you know, I think it's silly being a landline provider that, that people are getting their internet at home, uh, from a cellular

Jessica Denson (20:28):

Tower.

Brent Christensen (20:29):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, that doesn't make sense to me. But they are increasing their speeds. We're increasing our speeds faster. Um, but they're still increasing their speeds, and they're competition, and they're taking customers away from us.

Jessica Denson (20:39):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (20:40):

That's the reality. And so if you don't have some sort of adequate connectivity, you're not gonna be able to, to do anything in the next five to 10 years.

Jessica Denson (20:51):

And despite, you know, rural America, you think of it as a few people, but it's millions and millions of Americans.

Brent Christensen (20:57):

Oh, yeah. Yeah. <laugh>. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah.

Jessica Denson (20:58):

Yeah. Yeah.

Brent Christensen (20:59):

So

Jessica Denson (20:59):

That's why we're very passionate about it. Connected nation. Yeah. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Well,

Brent Christensen (21:02):

And we've had a, the state of Minnesota's had a great relationship with connected, uh, nation from, from the beginning since 2008. And, uh, you guys have done a, a phenomenal job.

Jessica Denson (21:12):

Oh, thank you.

Brent Christensen (21:13):

Um, I, I know every year I used to work with John getting the, updating the maps and going out and

Jessica Denson (21:18):

Tech. He's fantastic.

Brent Christensen (21:19):

Yeah. Yeah. And, and now the staff does that. And, um, you know, and big shout out to Brent Leg because if it wasn't for him, uh, connected Nation wouldn't have been in Minnesota.

Jessica Denson (21:30):

Yeah. You said you guys had a good sit down, right? We

Brent Christensen (21:32):

Did. And yeah, in 2008, um, Brent came to, uh, Minnesota and met with a bunch of us, um, industry people at, at a hotel in Bloomington. And I, I wasn't working for MTA at the time, but I walked into that meeting going, there's no way I'm gonna ever give him my information.

Jessica Denson (21:49):

Uhhuh

Brent Christensen (21:49):

<affirmative>. I walked out of there telling my, my other federal general general managers, uh, we gotta sign these NDAs and we gotta get 'em this information. Oh. And we've built on that. And it's been a great partnership ever since.

Jessica Denson (22:01):

And by that you mean that Connect Nation was really like a partner in keeping your pri proprietary information?

Brent Christensen (22:08):

Yeah.

Jessica Denson (22:08):

Proprietary, yeah. And

Brent Christensen (22:09):

Private. Yeah.

Jessica Denson (22:10):

And but also being a conduit to work with the government and stuff,

Brent Christensen (22:14):

Right? Yes. They've been that, that filter mm-hmm

Jessica Denson (22:16):

<affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (22:16):

In between that, that necessary filter between government and the private sector to keep our competitive information private.

Jessica Denson (22:23):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Brent Christensen (22:23):

And, and a trusted one too. It's important. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Yeah. I mean, they, they have kept up their word or mm-hmm <affirmative>. You have kept up your word.

Jessica Denson (22:29):

Yeah. <laugh>,

Brent Christensen (22:30):

Um, since the very beginning. And it, and it's been a wonderful partnership.

Jessica Denson (22:34):

Uh, well thank you so much for your partnership. Yeah. And thank you Brent, for showing up. Yeah. Even though you gave me a little heart attack when you scared me when you showed up. 

Sorry about that. I was like, ah, <laugh>, I'm jumpy though. <laugh> Brent Christensen with Minnesota Telecom Alliance. I really appreciate it. I never said your title. You're the president and CEO of the organization. I'm, yeah. So you're the big guy.

Brent Christensen (22:53):

Well,

Jessica Denson (22:54):

The important guy. Yeah. Yeah. You got on top.

Brent Christensen (22:55):

That's <laugh> the one I wanna talk to, to a place where the buck stops. That's right. I don know how important that is, or I don't know. And I certainly don't know what I'm in charge of, but,

Jessica Denson (23:03):

But, uh, well, thank you for your time. You're welcome. We'll continue our coverage from the Broadband Nation Expo on future episodes of Connected Nation. Until then, I'm Jessica Sen, and this is Connected Nation.