The upcoming AI divide that nobody is talking about

What is the next big disruptor threatening to widen the Digital Divide?  

In this episode, recorded at the Connected America Conference in Dallas, host Jessica Denson tackles the urgent state of U.S. broadband policy with Nokia leadership. From emerging tech shifts to policy bottlenecks, we unpack the immediate actions required to secure connectivity for every American. 

Recommended links:

Lori Adams LinkedIn

Nokia Corporation website

Nokia Corporation LinkedIn

Transcript

Jessica Denson, Connected Nation (00:07):
This is Connect to Nation, an award-winning podcast focused on all things broadband. From closing the digital divide to improving your internet speeds, we talk technology topics that impact all of us, our families, and our neighborhoods. On this episode of Connected Nation, I talk with leadership from Nokia about broadband policy in the US, why the digital divide may widen if we don't take action now, and the next big disruptor in the broadband world. I'm Jessica Denson, and this is Connected Nation. I am at Connected America taking place in Dallas, Texas, and I have come across Lori Adams with Nokia. She is the vice president of broadband policy and funding strategy. Quiet mouthful, but an important role, I imagine. <laugh> Thanks, Jessica. 

Lori Adams, Nokia (00:57):
Thank you for joining 

Jessica Denson, Connected Nation (00:57):
Me, Lori. <laugh> 

Lori Adams, Nokia (00:58):
It's a pleasure to ... 

Jessica Denson, Connected Nation (00:59):
Pleasure to chat with you today. <laugh> I love seeing women in charge. I'm just gonna say that right away. <laugh> Um, talk about what, um, you know, Nokia, I think a lot of people think it's a cell phone company in their brain, but it's really a big technological- <laugh> technology 

Lori Adams, Nokia (01:14):
Level. Yes, exactly. No, we ... I, I joke that if you liked our cell phones, you know, you love our broadband equipment. Uh-huh. So we're a global manufacturer, uh, of networking electronics, and we, we provide, we manufacture everything for every type of network, whether it's mobility, with, you know, 5G, whether it's fiber to the home, fixed wireless, we have a product for, uh, all of that. 

Jessica Denson (01:35):
And is that been in the last few years? Talk about how long Nokia has been in that space. Lori Adams (01:39):

I mean, Nokia has been in the space, uh, you know, quite a long time with the different iterations of companies, Alkatel, Alkatel Lucent, then Nokia. So, um, you know, we've been around a, a long time. I think we sold the, the cell phone, uh, handset business, uh, sometime in the, around 2014, um, era, uh, before I joined Nokia. Uh-huh. So that you're talking about, uh, you know, things that, that- So they pre- predate me. 

Jessica Denson (02:01):
Pre-date you, 

Lori Adams (02:01):
Yeah. 

Jessica Denson (02:02):
Yeah. So, uh, talk about your role as vice president of broadband policy and funding strategy. W- how exactly do you approach that and what is kind of maybe a day in the life or what you're really in charge of when you talk 

Lori Adams (02:14):
About that? Sure. So I, I joined Nokia a little over four years ago, um, because I, I've, uh, at the time, I have almost 20 years of experience in the broadband business, so now it's almost 25. And, um, but I, uh, a significant portion of that has been in government funding, um, arena, whether it, you know, first, uh, I directed the Maryland BTOP initiative, um, back in the 2010, uh, Obama days of the American Reinc- Recovery and Reinvestment Act. And- That was the first 

Jessica Denson (02:41):
Big 

Lori Adams (02:42):
Push, right? Yeah, absolutely. The first time we had government funding for broadband networks, um, and, uh, on a grant level basis. And, um, and so, uh, Nokia was looking for someone to sort of lead the effort for all of the government funding programs because, you know, since, since the pandemic, there was, uh, approximately a hundred billion dollars worth of funding that was injected into the marketplace for broadband infrastructure. Mm-hmm. And that's federal level. Some of it went to the states, of course, like BEAD, like CPF, um, like ARPA funds where the states then could, you know, use those funds for a variety of purposes and, and a lot of it did end up being pushed into broadband infrastructure. Mm-hmm. So I came on board, um, to help, uh, to help Nokia navigate these government funding programs and provide, um, work with our customers who had questions.

(03:31)
Um, as a part of this, I negotiated the Build America Buy America waiver with the Biden administration for BEAD, um, was involved in the, the onshoring, uh, US manufacturing for the BEAD program of, of our products. So I've been, you know, sort of knee deep and, uh, well, more than that, neck deep- <laugh> ... In all of this, uh, stuff for the last four years. So a day in the life for me is I support customers, I support partners, um, I still work closely with the government affairs team, although now I'm in the sales organization. Mm-hmm. So I kind of do, I have a, a wide variety of, um, sort of rep- uh, uh, responsibilities. 

Jessica Denson (04:07):
The technology obviously since for the last 25 years has evolved into incredible, uh, incredible ways and it's getting faster and faster, as quickly, you know, evolving more and more. And we talk about AI, we talk about all those things. Do you think that, that, that your knowledge you're able to see, oh, there might be this next bin down the road? 

Lori Adams (04:27):
You know, it is interesting. I mean, AI is a disruptor, right? Uh-huh <affirmative>. So in the last couple years, we've had a few major things that the co- COVID was a disruptor, and now we have AI, which is the next, um, sort of disruptor. Mm-hmm. And you're absolutely right. I mean, the, the, the technology, the applications, all of the things that we're doing to build networks are going to support these, uh, inventions, right? Yeah. Um, now, the tricky thing is that the vast majority of them are going to require fiber. So this is, you know, we are, we are really moving towards a fiber based, um, uh, networking, you know, technology is the catalyst for all of this because once you have fiber in the ground, you just need to, you know, develop and continue to improve your electronics. Um, the fiber remain, you know, remains, uh, good in the ground that you've installed for up to 30, 40, 50 plus years future proof.

(05:17)
It's future proof. Mm-hmm. Um, but if you look at studies, they'll show you that people with a fiber to the home connection are more engaged with AI and they're more engaged for more complex tasks. So there is a disparity between the type of technology that you have, uh, access to at your home and your ability to participate in the AI, uh, economy. And so, you know, what we're gonna, what we might end up seeing over the next five, 10 years is a new type of digital divide based on the technology type and your participation with AI. 

Jessica Denson (05:51):
I think those of us at Connected Hation would echo that because we really do feel that we're see, already seeing the divide shift. Like, yeah, you, there's access for a lot of people, a lot more people than there were five, 10 years ago, but there's this new, these new gaps that are showing up. Um, I noticed that you, you were, you were adamant, I really wanna make sure I watch, I watch this, uh, next, um, panel on AI and policy. Uh, what was something that you were looking for there or did you really take away from that? 

Lori Adams (06:22):
Oh, you know, um, uh, Angie Kronenberg and Carol Mattie are friends of mine, and so I wanted to support their panel, but just, you know, they're great. They have great insights. They were fantastic. Yeah. Uh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It's terrific. You know, as you mentioned before, women in the industry, uh, I wanted to hear just what their insights were on what, you know, what was happening in DC and what their perspective was. 

Jessica Denson (06:40):
Did you take anything new away, you think, or are you feeling like, no, we're, we're on the right path right now? 

Lori Adams (06:44):
Oh, yeah. I mean, I, you know, I, there, there was nothing ... Well, let me put it this way. They, you know, they provide their insights. It was sort of high level. They didn't get in the weeds on anything in particular, but, you know, it sort of just echoes what, you know, the trajectory of what we see happening in DC. 

Jessica Denson (06:59):
So what is, in your opinion, or what, whatever you can share, I, I understand that there may be some stuff that's proprietary that you can't share. Um, what is Noki- Nokia's position on AI and what's next? Oh. 

Lori Adams (07:10):
Is it 

Jessica Denson (07:10):
Fiber first? 

Lori Adams (07:11):
Oh, ab- yes, absolutely. I mean, we work with the hyperscalers, we work, you know, interested in data centers and all of the, the AI technologies and applications that are gonna be utilized by, um, by network, uh, operators, by consumers, um, and, um, you know, working towards those innovations to support that. 

Jessica Denson (07:30):
Uh, for you, are there ways that you're already seeing it being utilized maybe in your life or in, at the company itself? 

Lori Adams (07:37):
You know, it's interesting. I mean, you look at what, you know, Ch- ChatGPT and Claude and, you know, all of the other tools have done and, and, you know, you talk, you chat with people, particularly I think if you're, um, in the older generation, you know, you're- A little scary. ... you're maybe not as comfortable- Yeah. ... utilizing those tools that some of our, you know, Gen Z, uh, kids are doing, but, um, you know, more and more, you know, you hear about productivity, ways to harness that. Mm-hmm. You know, if you're a network operator, um, there's, uh, certainly AI tools that can be effective for managing your network, for operations. So there's, there's, you know, kind of an unlimited, um, sort of possibility, uh, in usage, use cases for, for AI. The, the, the trick is going to be, um, harnessing that, right? Figuring it out, implementing it, utilizing it, leveraging it properly.

(08:31)
Um, you know, you don't necessarily want AI to be unchecked, um- Yeah. <laugh> No, I don't. <laugh> So you've got to, you've got to figure out how to, how to manage that. 

Jessica Denson (08:40):
Uh-huh. I, I think it's interesting all the different kinds of AI too, and I've only realized that myself, and I work at a tech based nonprofit where there's different kinds of AI for different kinds of things. There's cur- you know, so that's interesting too, just as a side, aside. 

Lori Adams (08:58):
You know, it reminds me a little bit of, you know, we, for years we talked about smart communities, smart communities, smart cities. Yeah. What does that mean? What does that mean? It's kind of a catchall phrase. It's like AI is sort of a catchall phrase for everything in the, you know, in that, in that space. Um, I think what we really need to do is better communicate use cases, um, you know, help to coach people on how to tackle this because it's such a massive field and it's intimidating if you don't have, you know, kind of an understanding of what's out there, how you can use it, how you can harness that. 

Jessica Denson (09:32):
Uh, since you are in that space, are there any, um, trends or questions that you see time and time again that you're really looking to answer moving forward or some gaps that you think, oh, we really need to look toward that too? 

Lori Adams (09:47):
I mean, if you look at sort of the trends, um, you know, we obviously, uh, a couple weeks ago, the FCC, um, announced a, a ban on foreign produce routers, uh, that was mentioned on the, on the panel was one of the questions, right? There's, uh, there's a trend in the federal government, um, for, uh, to, for onshoring of pro- of manufacturing. Um, that is something that, you know, I think will continue. Um, we have a global right now, um, sort of as an industry, uh, global supply chain and global manufacturing base, so it's gonna take some effort to move those things, um, to the US, uh, generally. Um, there's also, you know, a number of other, of other trends. We're at the end also of government funding, um, programs for last mile broadband, right? Yeah. And I think this is something that a lot of people don't realize because the BEAD program was designed, now whether that's actually- How it's used.

(10:42)
... how it will, the, the outcome- Yeah. ... but it was designed to essentially, you know, be the last, last program needed to connect every, uh, American in this country, every, every ho- household to, uh, broadband, high broadband. Like they did with 

Jessica Denson (10:58):
Electrification where they had to pay 

Lori Adams (11:00):
For it to 

Jessica Denson (11:00):
Make it a case. 

Lori Adams (11:01):
Yeah. And so, you know, we know just based on what we're hearing that there's gonna be gaps, there's gonna be, you know, um, locations missed here and there, but ultimately, right, we, we've come a long way. Yeah. Um, now the government is not in the business of funding overbuilds, right? So they are only looking going forward to fund gap, um, locations, households that got missed for bed, got missed for ARDOF or what, whatever it might be. Mm-hmm. So there's only gonna be a very limited amount of funding available for that purpose. Now, government funding programs though, I think you're gonna start to see them in other adjacent areas, middle mile infrastructure, particularly on the state level. You're gonna see some for AI support for data centers. We don't know what the bead non-deployment funds will be used for yet. Yeah. We're waiting on that guidance to come out.

(11:51)
So, um, you know, there's gonna be a change in how, um, how we engage with the federal government for, uh, broadband related technologies. 

Jessica Denson (12:02):
And are, are you ... Is that, is that interesting and exciting for you to see where it goes next? 

Lori Adams (12:08):
It ... Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's, you know, we're not done in, in, in this country. There's still 40-ish percent of households that lack of fiber passing. Mm-hmm. Um, those, again, may not be eligible for, um, government funding because there's, there, they have broadband, but they don't have fiber. So, um, you know, there's a lot of work to be done, but it, you know, you can kind of feel that shift, that move towards AI, that move towards applications, that move towards, you know, kind of over the top services that all require a fiber connection. 

Jessica Denson (12:38):
You know, I'm kind of struck with the idea that, um, AI might backhandedly help people get more con- a better connection, just because of the need and the understanding that, um, our leadership in the country at all levels has that this is a necessity. 

Lori Adams (12:54):
Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. No, it's, it's, you know, that's why it's a disruptor, right? Uh-huh. Because you don't know exactly how it's gonna disrupt, but it will. <laugh> 

Jessica Denson (13:02):
So for, for Nokia, I, I think of it as an, an Amer- an American company. It's based in America, but is it global? 

Lori Adams (13:09):
So we, we're a finish company. Uh-huh. Oh, finished. I had that completely wrong. We are a finished company. We have a large presence in North America. We have approximately 7,500, um, employees in the US and we have, um, you know, several, several core offices, uh, and R&D around the country. 

Jessica Denson (13:24):
Oh, wow. So is it, is there, are there similar conversations happening around the world? 

Lori Adams (13:29):
Oh, absolutely. Right? You know, you look at what, um, you know, Europe has, has kind of been ahead of the, uh, of the, of the curve when, when it comes to fiber to the home deployments. You know, you look at what Ireland is doing with, uh, not the NBI pro- project, which is aims to, um, connect every single household in Ireland, including, including on the islands. Wow. And so that's actually powered by Nokia. Um, but NBI is, you know, one of the really, I mean, tremendous, um, use case if you want to look at, you know, countries and what they've done. So, but, you know, data centers, all of the AI conversations, yes, all of this is happening at a global scale. 

Jessica Denson (14:04):
So that, that's interesting because then you have that to draw on- mm-hmm. ... and, and compare what works there, what doesn't work, all kinds, that's, that makes it very interesting because Nokia's very strong- mm-hmm. ... placement in the Broadspan sphere. So, uh, just two more questions. I know you need to go soon because of your, you've got other panels that you're interested in. But, um, does, do, do Nokia, you know, broadband, you know, we have the small ISPs, we have the lar- mid-size, then we have the heavy hitters- mm-hmm. ... like Nokia and T-Mobile, whoever. Do you guys have conversations amongst each other as well? 

Lori Adams (14:39):
Oh, absolutely. I mean, we work with, um, networks of all sizes, you know, from the, from the, from the tier ones all the way down to the smallest- Uh-huh <affirmative>. ... rural community networks. So, yeah, oh, absolutely. 

Jessica Denson (14:50):
That's awesome. I, I always hope that there's like a little, there's at least a little conversation <laugh>. Oh, there's lots of conversations. So recorded it a little bit. Yes. And, and finally, i- if you were going to say one thing to our audience or let people know where Nokia would like to be in five years, 10 years, or where they, you would like to see broadband, what would you say? 

Lori Adams (15:11):
You know, I think Nokia is a, is a leader in technology. I mean, we've been, um, you know, around for a long time. Uh, Bell Labs is part of our, uh, family. We, you know, they celebrated their hundredth birthday last year and I think, you know, we have been at the, at the cutting edge of innovation for a very long time and will continue to do so. 

Jessica Denson (15:28):
Yeah. That's pretty cool. Yeah. We're, we're celebrating our 25th anniversary this year, so you guys got us by- It's awesome. ... a little bit <laugh>. Yeah. Well, again, Lori Adams with Nokia, she's the vice president of broadband policy and funding strategy. I really appreciate you talking with us. I know I kind of, hey, you don't know me, but come over here and 

Lori Adams (15:45):
Chat. Oh, perfect. I know you guys. I know you well. 

Jessica Denson (15:47):
Yeah. Uh, thank you so much. 

Lori Adams (15:49):
Thank you, Jessica. Okay. 

Jessica Denson (15:59):
On future episodes of Connected National, we'll bring you more details from Connected America taking place in Dallas, Texas. Until then, I'm Jessica Enson, and this is Connected Nation.