In this week's episode of Building Broadband, we're tracking new broadband builds from Alabama Fiber Network (AFN), Breezeline, Brightspeed, eX² Technology, Home Telecom, and Ziply Fiber.

These providers are all using a mix of public and private funding for a host of new broadband build-outs across a diverse set of communities.

Lightwave is tracking service providers' ongoing efforts to extend broadband to more homes and businesses via our Building Broadband series.

If you want to share a new broadband build, contact Lightwave Editor in Chief Sean Buckley at sbuckley@endeavorb2b.com.

About the Podcast In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com.

In this special edition of the Broadband Pulse podcast, we're in Dallas, Texas, covering this year’s Mplify (formerly MEF) Global NaaS Event GNE 2025 show.

For this episode, we’re taking a look at the key highlights of the first day of the event:

• Mplify’s leadership transition
• Mplify Market Brief Positioning NaaS as Foundation for Agentic AI
• Mplify’s Carrier Ethernet for AI certification
• Advancing Mplify's certification efforts in wireless through aligning with the GSMA
• Addressing standardized automation for enterprises

About the Podcast In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com.

In this week's episode of Building Broadband, we're tracking new broadband builds from Brightspeed, Digital C, Ezee Fiber, Fidium, Greenlight Networks, Junction Internet, Lyte Fiber, Metro Communications, Metronet, and Vero Fiber are all using a mix of public and private funding for a host of new broadband build-outs across a diverse set of communities.

As part of this mix, we also saw three service providers move to expand their footprints through M&A:

• Greenlight Networks to acquire FastBridge Fiber
• Metro Communications’ Clearwave Fiber Southern Illinois deal bolsters its FTTH plans
• Vero Fiber extends its Southeast reach with the acquisition of Telephone Electronics Corporation (TEC) acquisition

About the Podcast In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com.

In late August, the Arkansas State Broadband Office released the state’s final proposal for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, officially opening the plan for public review and comment.

According to the Arkansas State Broadband Office, the state's $1 billion BEAD program represents the largest public broadband investment in Arkansas history. The state's BEAD program garnered a strong response. Arkansas' State Broadband Office received 730 applications from 33 internet service providers (ISPs), and 23 providers were selected by the broadband office for preliminary awards.

During this Broadband Pulse podcast, we talked to Glen Howie, director of the Arkansas State Broadband Office, about how it will apply the BEAD program to bring broadband to its communities.

Here is a timeline of the episode:

Opening

0:39 Arkansas's Broadband Efforts How state and federal grants like Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) are helping the state expand broadband availability.

2:12 Arkansas's landscape How the state can extend broadband to rural and urban areas.

3:06 Final BEAD proposal for public comment Howie sees BEAD as the true blueprint to achieve universal broadband access across the state.

5:04 BEAD provider diversity Arkansas’s BEAD proposal drew a wide swath of service providers: 29 from Arkansas and 19 from outside the state.

7:55 Navigating BEAD uncertainty Even with the change of the White House administration, Arkansas continued to move with a sense of urgency.

9:26 Sharing BEAD experiences with other states Arkansas continues to talk to other states about its best practices.

9:56 Digital skills training As the state wires more locations with broadband, it is also focusing on helping people acquire digital skills to access and use the service for employment and education opportunities.

14:30 Communicating with communities How the state and the BEAD participants are working with local leaders to provide information on how the BEAD program will impact their communities.

16:55 Final thoughts/wrap up

About our guest Glen Howie is a seasoned professional with extensive experience in both the private and public sectors. A proud native of a small town of about 12,000, he understands the sense of pride and "community" that permeates Main Street USA, as well as the concerns and challenges facing rural Arkansas. In his current role as Director of the Arkansas State Broadband Office, he is leading an "all-of-state" effort to provide "all-of-state" solutions for the "all-of-state" issue of broadband. With a once-in-a-century opportunity to transform the Arkansas economy, Glen's vision, and the Arkansas State Broadband Office's mandate, is to be a leader in the South and a Top Ten state in the country, in all things broadband. Glen earned an undergraduate degree in finance and a master’s degree in public administration from LSU. After he completed the MPA program, he was selected as the recipient of the David B. Johnson Award for Academic Excellence, highlighting his academic achievement, critical analysis of public policy issues, and commitment to improving public management.

About the Podcast In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com.

As bandwidth demand accelerates and power consumption issues become more acute, the emergence of Linear Pluggable Optics (LPO) has become a welcome technology. LPO is a technology that creates low-power optical modules for ultra-short-reach data center connections by removing the complex DSP (Digital Signal Processor) chip from the module. This design reduces power consumption, cost, and latency, making it ideal for AI clusters and hyperscale data centers. Industry standards groups have focused on two main developments: electrical interface standards and testing and optical link performance and deployment. The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) is moving forward with electrical interface standards while the LPO Multi-Source Agreement (LPO MSA) is addressing optical link performance and deployment challenges. In this podcast, we talked with Mark Kimber, the senior principal product definition specialist for Semtech. Here’s a timeline of the episode:

Opening

0:05 Host introduces guests Broadband Pulse host Sean Buckley introduced Kimber to the program.

0:38 LPO’s emergence Mark Kimber addresses emergence of LPO and Semtech’s role.

1:54 The LPO Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) How the new LPO MSA is establishing a specification and a methodology to make LPO work.

3:40 LPO standards efforts How the LPO MSA and the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) call for creating optical and electrical standards.

4:56 Semtech’s direct edge portfolio Semtech’s LPO platforms can help data center providers accommodate AI’s new power, latency and size requirements.

6:31 LPO plug and play operations Plug-and-play is key to help simplify large data center operations and management.

11:04 OIF’s Common Management Interface Specification (CMIS) role CMIS manages the LPO module's diagnostic capabilities, including monitoring the optical and electrical interfaces. 11:35 200G per lane technology How LPO can save power at higher speeds like 200G per lane. 14:10 Final Thoughts/Closing Mark Kimber offers his final thoughts on LPO.

About our guest Mark Kimber is the Principal Product Definition Specialist at Semtech Corporation. Mark received the BE (Elect) degree from the University of Queensland in 1984. Since then, he has worked on research and product development at GEC Hirst Research Centre, STC Laboratories, Bell Northern Research, Nortel, Bookham, Gennum and Semtech. Mark currently works on product definition for Semtech products and is a contributor to various standards groups.

About the Podcast In the Lightwave+BTR Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com.

Vistabeam is another example of a company finding a way to serve the often-overlooked rural market. Matt and Monique Larsen, who co-founded Vistabeam in 2004, believed rural communities deserved better internet and better opportunities. Like other entrepreneurs who rose during the early days of the internet, the Larsens were working at another ISP, but saw an opportunity to leverage new wireless technology with a local hands on focus that a national provider can’t offer.

Vistabeam has continued to grow. Today, its network covers 50,000 square miles and serves more than 100 towns across western Nebraska, northeastern Colorado, and southeastern Wyoming — the region it calls Wyobraskarado. The company maintains that its differentiator is not technology, but rather “its heart.” The company is family-owned, locally operated, and committed to creating good jobs in the communities it serves.

Key Moments in This Episode

Opening

0:05 Introduction of our guest

0:28 Vistabeam’s broadband journey Matt Larsen talks about how Vistabeam has evolved since its founding in 2004. 2:36 Fixed wireless and fiber How Vistabeam is leveraging fixed wireless and fiber to bring broadband to rural areas of Nebraska, northeastern Colorado, and southeastern Wyoming. 4:27 Weighing fiber and wireless options Vistabeam sees fiber and wireless as being a tool that fits specific situations.

5:52 The competitive landscape While Vistabeam faces a mix of traditional rural telcos and competitors, the company says its value lies in its local and responsive approach. 7:19 Middle Mile Vistabeam has built its own middle mile networks with microwave and available fiber to backhaul traffic. 9:19 Fiber broadband expansions The service provider has been leveraging state grants to build fiber in Kimball, Mitchell and Oshkosh, Nebraska.

12:18 Business service options Vistabeam is being opportunistic with business services, which are resonating with tractor dealerships and others. 14:27 Final Thoughts/closing

About our guest Matt Larsen is the CEO and founder of Vistabeam. Since co-founding the company in 2004, Vistabeam has grown to cover over 50,000 square miles and serve more than 100 towns across western Nebraska, northeastern Colorado, and southeastern Wyoming — the region it calls Wyobraskarado. Vistabeam is a hybrid broadband provider that offers both fixed wireless and fiber-based services. Besides his role at Vistabem, he serves as the chairman of WISPA.

About the Podcast In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and listen here.

In this special episode of the Broadband Pulse podcast, we're tracking key trends taking place at SCTE's TechExpo25 show.

As the final installment in this series, we’re tipping our hat to the vendors who showcased new wares that are designed to assist cable MSOs with their ongoing migration to DOCSIS 4.0, fiber broadband, and enhance the reach of their metro and long-haul optical networks.

Lightwave is conducting a roundup of the key product releases during the recent SCTE TechExpo25 event in Washington, DC. This roundup highlights innovations from ATX, Go! Foton, Nokia/InCoax, ProLabs, Render, Vecima and VIAVI.

For more on cable innovations, check out our SCTE TechExpo25 coverage page: SCTE TechExpo25 special report.

About the Podcast In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and listen here.