Broadband Breakfast on May 27, 2026 - The State of Broadband Deployment: Progress, Gaps, and Early Outcomes
This session examines where networks are being built, where gaps remain, and how deployment patterns are evolving as funding flows into the market.
Highlight reel
Full Video
Can't see the video? Join the Breakfast Club to access
Broadband deployment is accelerating across the country, but progress isn’t uniform, and the real impact is just beginning to take shape. This session brings together companies tracking, mapping, and analyzing network buildout to examine where networks are being built, where gaps remain, and how deployment patterns are evolving as funding flows into the market. What can we learn from the latest deployment trends? And what do early outcomes suggest about the next phase of broadband expansion?
Broadband Breakfast
Slides from Broadband Breakfast Live Online
Panelists
- Bryan Darr, Vice President, Government Affairs, Ookla
- Paroma Sanyal, Principal, Brattle Group
- Karen White, Vice President, National Broadband Practice Michael Baker International
- Alexei Monsarrat, Director of Broadband Projects, Vermont Community Broadband Board
- Brian Allenby, Director of State Solutions, CostQuest Associates
- Drew Clark (moderator), CEO and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast
Bryan Darr is the Vice-President of Government Affairs at Ookla, spearheading the company’s programs for federal, state and local governments. He also leads Ookla’s advocacy efforts with lawmakers and policy organizations, promoting the value of both crowdsourced intelligence and controlled network performance collection to help with better data-driven decisioning. He currently serves on CTIA’s Connected Infrastructure Working Group, WIA’s Innovation Technology Council and the Wireless History Foundation’s Board of Directors.
Dr. Paroma Sanyal is a telecommunications industry expert, specializing in telecommunications asset valuation, spectrum policy, auctions, broadband, cost modelling, competition, regulation, consumer protection, and telecom-related intellectual property matters. She frequently advises clients on telecommunications asset valuation, regulatory issues in fixed and mobile broadband, spectrum auctions, spectrum value, and spectrum availability. Dr. Sanyal has consulted on numerous major Federal Communications Commission (FCC) spectrum and subsidy auctions and has helped clients navigate complex regulatory issues. She also regularly advises clients on telecom-related competition analyses and consults on false advertising cases and various telecom-related litigation matters. In addition to regulatory, policy, and valuation analyses, Dr. Sanyal’s engagements have also focused on a range of issues within the intellectual property, FRAND, privacy regulation, data breach cases, and false advertising.
Karen White is Vice President and National Broadband Practice Executive at Michael Baker International, with more than 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. She brings extensive experience supporting state, regional, and local governments nationwide with broadband deployment and funding strategy, grant program administration, and deployment oversight. Karen supports several states in administering their Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) and Capital Projects Fund (CPF) programs, currently focusing on post-award compliance monitoring and implementation oversight, including field inspections and audits. Her work also includes advising on public-private partnerships, evaluating broadband availability at the local level, and leading feasibility studies to help public entities assess options to develop, own, or operate broadband networks. Her background spans engineering and consulting roles in broadband and public safety as well as roles in software engineering and wireless systems design and engineering management.
Alexei Monserrat is the Director of Vermont’s BEAD program, having started with VCBB during the Initial Proposal development process in 2023. He is now leading the program’s implementation. Alexei has a background in international economic policy and served domestically and overseas for the US State Department for ten years and with DC-based think tanks.
Brian Allenby serves as Director of State Solutions at CostQuest Associates, where he supports states, ISPs and other stakeholders as they navigate broadband planning, mapping, and BEAD implementation. He previously served as Chief Operating Officer of the Maine Connectivity Authority, where he oversaw last-mile broadband infrastructure programs, grant administration, finance, and communications related to the state’s progress toward universal connectivity. Allenby holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, Law, Economics, and Government from American University.
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 tool to collect and verify broadband data left unpublished by the Federal Communications Commission. As CEO and Publisher, Clark presides over the leading media community 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.
