All Day Digital CoBank
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- Business
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Welcome to All Day Digital, a CoBank podcast series dedicated to the U.S. telecommunications sector. Hosted by Jeff Johnston, lead communications economist with CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange, All Day Digital connects you with industry executives and thought leaders for timely insights and in-depth market analysis.
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Why Fixed Wireless is Where Operators Should Focus
Whether rural or national, the growth opportunity for all wireless operators is in fixed wireless, says expert Tim Courtney with Further Enterprise Solutions. In this episode of All Day Digital, he points rural operators to BEAD funding as a strategy to offer fixed wireless where fiber does not make sense.
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The Data Center Surge Rides on Rural Power
Thanks to the emergence of artificial intelligence, demand for data centers is red hot. Data centers run on power-hungry chips, so they are locating to rural America – where the electricity is. In this episode of All Day Digital, Alan Bezoza, a managing director at DigitalBridge Investment Management, explains how the main requirement for cloud computing switched from adequate building space to power.
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Rural Broadband Jeopardized by USF Legal Threats
The Universal Service Fund, an FCC program that ensures connectivity in rural America, is being challenged in U.S. federal circuit court. The outcome could be disruptive for rural telecom operators who rely on USF support. In this episode of All Day Digital, the former executive director of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, Blair Levin, explains the situation and urges rural communities to be informed.
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Why Broadband Borrowers are the Goldilocks of 2024
Money, money, money – an abundance is being directed toward rural broadband in 2024, but with caveats and conditions and a dizzying array of private and public funding options. In this episode of All Day Digital, communications financing expert and CoBank Vice President Lennie Blakeslee discusses how operators can home in on funding that is just right for them.
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Navigating Broadband’s Financial Frontier with Asset Securitization
With rising interest rates and tightening credit, broadband companies are exploring alternative ways of raising capital. One option getting attention is the securitization of network assets and customer contracts. This type of financing vehicle enables companies to raise capital quickly from a wide range of investors. In this episode of All Day Digital, Jim Stanley of Frontier Communications shares how the company raised capital with a securitization offering, and what they learned.
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Rip and Replace Has Stalled, and That Threatens National Security
The effort to rip out and replace non-compliant, Chinese-made equipment from communication networks has been hobbled by a 60% funding shortfall and processing delays of 5-10 months. It’s jeopardizing not only national security, but also rural wireless access to 911 and the survival of local operators. In this episode of All Day Digital, telecom policy expert and Rural Wireless Association general counsel Carri Bennet outlines how we got here and what Congress needs to do now.