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Broadband Breakfast on Wednesday, July 21, 2021, 12 Noon ET — Preview of the Broadband Communities Summit (Part 1)
This event will be the first in a series previewing the upcoming Broadband Communities Summit.
Our Broadband Breakfast Live Online events take place every Wednesday at 12 Noon ET. You can watch the July 21, 2021, event on this page. You can also PARTICIPATE in the current Broadband Breakfast Live Online event. REGISTER HERE.
Wednesday, July 21, 2021, 12 Noon ET — Preview of the Broadband Communities Summit (Part 1)
The Broadband Communities Summit is the leading event for broadband operators. The Summit attracts system operators, network builders and deployers of all kinds. Many of the country’s major property owners and real estate developers attend the Summit each year, along with independent telcos and cable companies, municipal and state officials, community leaders and economic development professionals.
In this three-part series, Broadband Breakfast and Broadband Communities will preview the upcoming events at the Summit, which takes place from September 27-30, 2021, in Houston, Texas.
The first preview session, on July 21, will provide an overview of Broadband Communities Summit. Drew Clark will moderate.
The second preview session, on August 4, will focus on financing panels at the event, both the Broadband Communities Summit main sessions, as well as the Digital Infrastructure Investment mini-conference on September 27. Sean Buckley will moderate.
The third preview session, on August 18, will address multi-tenant housing issues at the summit. Sean Buckley will moderate.
Broadband Breakfast Club Members receive discount pricing on both the Broadband Communities Summit and Digital Infrastructure Investment 2021. the upcoming events at the Learn more about the Summit.
Panelists for the first preview session:
- Bob Knight, Executive Vice President and COO, Harrison Edwards Strategic Communications, Inc.
- Sean Buckley, Editor-in-Chief, Broadband Communities
- Heather Burnett Gold, CEO, HBG Strategies, LLC
- Barbara DeGarmo, CEO, Broadband Communities
- Drew Clark (moderator), Editor and Publisher of Broadband Breakfast
Bob Knight is a partner at Harrison Edwards PR+Marketing in Armonk, New York, and is heavily involved in the company’s key sectors including telecommunications, economic development, government and healthcare. In the public sector, Bob is serving his sixth term as a Commissioner of Economic & Community Development, Town of Ridgefield, Connecticut, and is the Town’s Deputy Recovery Coordinator. He is the national co-chair for the Public Officials Committee of the Fiber Broadband Association in Washington, DC, and is a 2021 Chairman of the Broadband Communities Summit in Houston, TX, and a founder of the National Fiber Coalition.
Sean Buckley began his tenure as Editor-in-Chief of Broadband Communities after nine years as senior editor at FierceTelecom, a daily online newsletter. He also oversaw FierceInstaller, a weekly publication chronicling trends in network installation. Previously, he spent eight years at Horizon House publications, serving as senior editor and later as editor-in-chief of Telecommunications Magazine and Telecom Engine.
Heather Burnett Gold served as president/CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association, a nonprofit organization that helps members plan, market, implement and manage fiber-to-the-home solutions, from 2011 to 2018. She then founded HBG Strategies to connect people and communities with solutions for deploying high capacity, future-proof broadband networks. Before joining FBA, Gold was senior vice president of External Affairs for XO Communications, a $1.5 billion telecommunications company, where she regularly interacted with Congress, the FCC, the White House and state lawmakers and regulators.
Barbara DeGarmo has spent more than 40 years in publishing, including both magazines and newspapers. Her positions have ranged from copy editing and headline writing at Star Magazine and the New York Daily News to associate managing editor of Family Circle and managing editor at Broadband House and Soap Opera News magazines. She retired from the Daily News in 2011 and assumed the position of CEO of Broadband Communities Magazine in August 2015.
Drew Clark, Editor and Publisher of Broadband Breakfast, also serves as Of Counsel to The CommLaw Group. He has helped fiber-based and fixed wireless providers negotiate telecom leases and fiber IRUs, litigate to operate in the public right of way, and argue regulatory classifications before federal and state authorities. In addition to representing public and private providers on broadband issues, Drew is actively involved in issues surrounding interconnected Voice-over-Internet-Protocol service, spectrum licenses, robocalling including STIR/SHAKEN, and the provision of video franchises and “over-the-top” copyrighted content.
WATCH HERE, or on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
As with all Broadband Breakfast Live Online events, the FREE webcasts will take place at 12 Noon ET on Wednesday.
SUBSCRIBE to the Broadband Breakfast YouTube channel. That way, you will be notified when events go live. Watch on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
See a complete list of upcoming and past Broadband Breakfast Live Online events.
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How to Watch the Videos from the BEAD Implementation Summit
The recordings of all the videos from the BEAD Implementation Summit are available to Breakfast Club members.

Watch the videos from the BEAD Implementation Summit on September 21, 2023.
Those who attended the BEAD Implementation Summit or watched the webcast are able to access the videos. Members of the Broadband Breakfast Club also have access to the BEAD Implementation Summit videos, as well as videos of all in-person events.
If you missed BEAD Implementation Summit, sign up for Broadband Breakfast’s BEAD Starter Pack for $35/month (cancel anytime). You’ll get access to each of the Breakfast Club reports for the BEAD Implementation Summit:
- July 2023 – A Deep Dive into Allocations Under the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program
- August 2023 – Precursors to BEAD Implementation: A Deep Dive Into Prior Broadband Programs
- September 2023 – A Deep Dive into the BEAD Program’s Matching Funds
Questions? Email drew@breakfast.media!
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State Broadband Heads Address BEAD Implementation Focuses
Broadband leaders touched on letter of credit requirements, subgrant timelines, and speed test data.

WASHINGTON, September 20, 2023 – Three state broadband leaders highlighted at a Broadband Breakfast Live Online event Wednesday key points of focus ahead of their implementation of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.
The BEAD program allocates $42.5 billion to states for expanding broadband infrastructure. States are in the process of releasing their initial proposals for administering the program – due to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration by December 27 – and hearing public comments.
The conversation was a preview of some topics up for discussion with state broadband heads, BEAD and other federal grant program officials, and service providers at the Broadband Breakfast BEAD Implementation Summit Thursday. Registration is open for in-person and virtual attendance.
Subgrantee selection timeline
States will have one year from the approval of their initial proposals to award subgrants under the program and submit their final proposals to the NTIA. Those awards have to be allocated via a bidding process.
Getting that done will be difficult, said Jim Stritzinger, the head of South Carolina’s broadband office.
“It’s really, really hard to deploy $551 million in 12 months,” he said. “And other states have much larger allocations than ours, I don’t know how they’re going to do it.”
Brian Newby of the North Dakota Broadband Program, echoed the concern.
“I am concerned that there will be locations that just won’t be bid on,” he said, and a second round of bidding to hit those areas would be difficult to fit in before the deadline.
Stritzinger noted that state offices are permitted under NTIA rules to negotiate directly with providers to BEAD-supported infrastructure in areas missed by the bidding process, rather than open a second round, which could save time, he said.
Letters of credit
BEAD requires grant recipients to get letters of credit from banks for 25 percent of the funds they receive to undertake projects. The requirement has been flagged by the industry as potentially blocking smaller providers from being able to accept grants.
The requirement still applies to publicly owned entities, Vermont broadband director Christine Hallquist noted. That will be a problem in Vermont, she said, where some communications infrastructure is owned by coalitions of towns.
“Municipalities just do not have that kind of money,” she said.
Speed test data
The broadband heads also noted the importance of reliable locations in speed test data. When speed tests are run in computer browsers, as opposed to direct measurements from equipment or from GPS-enabled devices like smartphones, they have less precise locations attached to them.
“You could very easily see a bunch of speed tests stacking up on a single dot in the center of a zip code,” Stritzinger said. “You have to be careful about that.”
Hallquist emphasized collecting speed data from different points along a network’s infrastructure to pinpoint where speed loss is happening.
“We want to help people address all of the issues that are a part of that stream of data,” she said.
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 20, 2023 – Preview of BEAD Implementation Summit
Ahead of the Broadband Breakfast BEAD’s Implementation Summit on September 21, this free live online event will offer a sneak peek into what the summit has in store. It will set the stage for the upcoming panels, including a roundtable with state broadband officers, a discussion of past broadband efforts, the role of public-private partnerships and a town hall session on problems still to tackle. Tune in to see what’s in store at the BEAD Implementation Summit in Washington on Thursday, September 21, 2023.
Panelists
- Brian Newby, Director, North Dakota Broadband Program Director
- Jim Stritzinger, Director, South Carolina Broadband Office
- Christine Hallquist, Executive Director of the Vermont Community Broadband Board
- Drew Clark (moderator), Editor and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast
Register for the BEAD Implementation Summit on September 21, 2023.
Brian Newby leads the North Dakota State Broadband Office, targeting broadband for all in North Dakota by administering more than $175 million in federal grants. Formerly served as the State Election Director at the North Dakota Secretary of State; previously was the Executive Director for U.S. Election Assistance Commission, a federal government agency, and Election Commissioner for Johnson County, the largest jurisdiction in Kansas and in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Before elections, worked as director of strategy for Sprint’s $10 billion Global Markets Group.
As part of the South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff, Jim Stritzingerserves as Director of the Broadband Office which was formed in July 2021. He manages a full-time team of five and is directly responsible for ensuring the rapid deployment of broadband infrastructure statewide and overseeing $1 billion in state and federal grant investments.
Christine Hallquist is the Executive Director of the Vermont Community Broadband Board. Their mission is to connect every Vermont address to fiber, make it affordable and maximize positive social impact. Christine was the former CEO of Vermont Electric Cooperative.
Breakfast Media LLC CEO Drew Clark has led the Broadband Breakfast community since 2008. An early proponent of better broadband, better lives, he initially founded the Broadband Census crowdsourcing campaign for broadband data. As Editor and Publisher, Clark presides over the leading media company advocating for higher-capacity internet everywhere through topical, timely and intelligent coverage. Clark also served as head of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois, a state broadband initiative.
Register for the BEAD Implementation Summit on September 21, 2023.
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Broadband Breakfast on Wednesday, October 25, 2023 – Broadband Deployment from India, Australia, South Africa
What can the United States learn from fascinating broadband deployments in the Global South?

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 25 – International Examples of Broadband Deployment – India, Australia, South Africa
As the United States channels unprecedented investments into broadband expansion, the nation’s counterparts worldwide are also ramping up their deployment efforts. In India, nearly 900 million out of its 1.4 billion population have adopted broadband services as of December 2022. Meanwhile, Australia said it’s on track to deliver broadband download speeds of at least 500 megabits per second to 90 percent of its homes and businesses by 2025. Across the ocean, South Africa is also making great strides in broadband buildouts. What lies behind such rapid expansion in those countries? How do they compare to the U.S.’s initiative under the bipartisan infrastructure law?
Panelists
- Panelists have been invited
- Drew Clark (moderator), Editor and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast
As with all Broadband Breakfast Live Online events, the FREE webcasts will take place at 12 Noon ET on Wednesday.
SUBSCRIBE to the Broadband Breakfast YouTube channel. That way, you will be notified when events go live. Watch on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
See a complete list of upcoming and past Broadband Breakfast Live Online events.
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