Our Broadband Breakfast Live Online events take place on Wednesday at 12 Noon ET. Watch the event on Broadband Breakfast, or REGISTER HERE to join the conversation.

Wednesday, October 5, 2022, 12 Noon ET – How to Reform the Universal Service Fund

The Universal Service Fund has been struggling to fund its programs promoting broadband connectivity across the country. Several policy experts have suggested fundamental changes to the structure of USF’s funding mechanisms to revitalize the program. Should the Federal Communications Commission broaden the program’s jurisdiction to include broadband revenues? Can the mission of USF survive without significant structural change?

See Private Investors Can Jumpstart Community Networks, Say Broadband Breakfast Panelists, Broadband Breakfast, September 29, 2022.

Our Broadband Breakfast Live Online events take place on Wednesday at 12 Noon ET. Watch the event on Broadband Breakfast, or REGISTER HERE to join the conversation.

Wednesday, September 28, 2022, 12 Noon ET – Financing Mechanisms for Community Broadband

In the world of digital infrastructure financing, it often seems like there’s a “Private Sector is from Mars” and “Non-profits are from Venus” attitude. The conversations have been segmented and distinct. But a new approach suggests change is underway. A report by Connectivity Capital, in association with the Association for Progressive Communication, Internet Society, and Connect Humanity, provides a new paradigm: Community Connectivity Providers. What are they and why are they important? What are the various operational models and examples? What financial mechanisms have been used and how are investors allocating capital to expand broadband access? Join us for a Broadband Breakfast Live Online discussion exploring this new convergence of financing and broadband.

Panelists:

• Ben Matranga, Managing Partner, Connectivity Capital
• Steve Song, Telecommunications Consultant & Policy Advisor, Mozilla
• Jim Forster, General Partner, Connectivity Capital
• Drew Clark (moderator), Editor and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast

Panelist resources:

• Financing Mechanisms for Locally Owned Internet Infrastructure (web page) with resources, Connectivity Capital, Association for Progressive Communication, Internet Society, and Connect Humanity, September 2022
• Financing Mechanisms for Locally Owned Internet Infrastructure (Google Doc report), Connectivity Capital, Association for Progressive Communication, Internet Society, and Connect Humanity, September 2022
• Private Investors Can Jumpstart Community Networks, Says New Report, Broadband Breakfast, September 28, 2022

Ben Matranga is the Managing Partner at Connectivity Capital, the world’s first impact investment firm focused exclusively on expanding broadband access in emerging markets. Connectivity Capital manages over a dozen investments in digital infrastructure including ISPs operating in 16 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Ben has over fifteen years of experience leading private equity and venture capital investments in emerging markets. Ben previously was an Investment Officer with the Soros Economic Development Fund, a $350 million impact investment fund founded by George Soros, where he led a broad range of transactions co-investing with sovereign governments, Development Finance Institutions, and institutional investment funds.

Steve Song is a Policy Advisor with the Mozilla Corporation; a consultant on access regulation and policy to the Association for Progressive Communications; and a research partner with the Network Startup Resource Center. His blog, manypossibilities dot net, is a popular destination for anyone working on African telecommunications and internet issues. Since 2009, Steve has been actively maintaining public maps of undersea and terrestrial fibre optic infrastructure in Africa. He is also the founder of Village Telco, a social enterprise that manufactured low-cost WiFi mesh VoIP technologies to deliver affordable voice and Internet service in under-serviced areas. Previously, Steve worked at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) where he led the organization’s ICTs for Development program in Africa, funding research into the transformational potential of ICTs.

In addition to serving as General Partner at Connectivity Capital, Jim Forster serves as the Managing Director of International Network Investments. He has over 35 years of hands-on leadership and technical expertise in networking equipment and Internet infrastructure. He spent over 20 years at Cisco Systems, starting in 1988 as the very first software development Manager, and became Distinguished Engineer leading various initiatives across IOS Software Development, System Architecture, and Business Development. He is a contributing author to Wireless Networking in the Developing World, the pioneering guide to building low-cost wireless network infrastructure in the developing world.

Drew Clark (moderator) is CEO of Breakfast Media LLC, the Editor and Publisher of BroadbandBreakfast.com and a nationally-respected telecommunications attorney. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, he served as head of the State Broadband Initiative in Illinois. Now, in light of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, attorney Clark helps fiber-based and wireless clients secure funding, identify markets, broker infrastructure and operate in the public right of way.

See “Panelists at Broadband Breakfast Event Urge the FCC Mapping Fabric Be Made Public,” Broadband Breakfast, September 22, 2022

Our Broadband Breakfast Live Online events take place on Wednesday at 12 Noon ET. Watch the event on Broadband Breakfast, or REGISTER HERE to join the conversation.

Wednesday, September 21, 2022, 12 Noon ET – Broadband Mapping and Data

Much hinges on the success or failure of the Federal Communications Commissions’ updated broadband maps. This fall the agency is entering into a period of intensive updating in which it is assessing an address-level “fabric” of locations and comparing internet service data received from providers. Now comes the hard part: Providing a framework for broadband users and providers to understand and challenge the FCC’s map. The future of the Biden administration’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act depends upon it.

Panelists:

• Scott Wallsten, President, Technology Policy Institute
• Bryan Darr, Vice President of Smart Communities at Ookla
• Dustin Loup, Program Manager, Marconi Society’s National Broadband Mapping Coalition
• Drew Clark (moderator), Editor and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast

Panelist resources:

• Drew Clark: Broadband Maps Are a Mess, So Now Let’s Focus on Actually Improving Them, Broadband Breakfast, July 30, 2019
• Bryan Darr: An Order of Fiber, Please, with Wireless on the Side, Broadband Breakfast, August 15, 2022
• Scott Wallsten: The FCC Broadband Map Will Be Wrong – But It Was Always Going To Be, NextTV, July 27, 2022
• Community Crowdsourcing Efforts Essential to Accessing Federal Broadband Funding, Broadband Breakfast (about Dustin Loup and Lai-Yi Ohlsen), Broadband Breakfast, May 27, 2022
• Ask Me Anything with Lai-Yi Ohlsen and Dustin Loup, Broadband.Money, June 17, 2022
• Broadband Breakfast on June 29, 2022 — Broadband Mapping and Data
• Broadband Breakfast on April 20, 2022 — Broadband Mapping and Data: In-Home Connections
• Broadband Breakfast on February 2, 2022 — Groundhog Day Special on Broadband Mapping
• Broadband Breakfast on December 22, 2021 — When Will the Broadband Maps Get Fixed?

Don’t miss the Broadband Mapping Masterclass! You can navigate the treacherous waters around broadband mapping by participating in this 2-hour Masterclass for only $99. Enroll TODAY in this LIVE Masterclass on Tuesday, September 27, at 12 Noon ET

Bryan Darr is the Vice President of Smart Communities at Ookla. He coordinates Ookla’s outreach to local, state and federal governments and serves on CTIA’s Smart Cities Business & Technology Working Group.

Scott Wallsten is President and Senior Fellow at the Technology Policy Institute and also a senior fellow at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy. He is an economist with expertise in industrial organization and public policy, and his research focuses on competition, regulation, telecommunications, the economics of digitization, and technology policy. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University.

Dustin Loup is an expert on internet governance and policy and program manager for the Marconi Society’s National Broadband Mapping Coalition. Much of his work centers on improving digital inclusion and establishing transparent, open-source, and openly verifiable mapping methodologies and standards.

White House photo from August 2021 by Adam Schultz

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As with all Broadband Breakfast Live Online events, the FREE webcasts will take place at 12 Noon ET on Wednesday.

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See a complete list of upcoming and past Broadband Breakfast Live Online events.