When Fiber Connect first started planning Fiber Connect 2023, Fiber Connect had one goal in mind – to ensure that the possibilities created by fiber broadband were front and center. Over the years, we’ve discussed the economic impact fiber broadband can have on communities, including the ability to raise local GDP, increase home prices, and impact local services. So, this year Fiber Connect wanted to highlight how markets have leveraged fiber broadband to deliver innovation and create disruption. While everyone knows the role the network played in Netflix’s ability to disrupt the entertainment industry, this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Fiber Connect 2023 is all about disruption and the role fiber broadband plays in enabling markets, companies, and communities to evolve, create, and alter market dynamics in new and exciting ways. This year, we’ve added five Operator Light Talks where leading network operators will detail how their networks are allowing customers to shift market paradigms, create opportunity, and underpin customer experience. During The State Broadband Summit at Fiber Connect 2023, attendees will also hear firsthand from broadband officers, state legislators, and county commissioners about their plans to leverage NTIA BEAD funds to close the digital divide.
Over the course of four days, the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) conference committee has created a wealth of new content, programming choices, and topics of discussion designed to inform, educate, motivate, and inspire. Fiber Connect have invited key partners back, new partners in, and expanded the conversations to include new areas not addressed yet. Let’s start at the beginning with the Pre-Conference Workshops on Sunday, August 20, 2023.
Sunday Funday - Pre-Conference Workshops
Fiber Connect 2023 has five Pre-Conference Workshops planned, including the Fiber Broadband Toolkit. This is the ideal place for operators considering fiber deployments for the first time to hear best practices, tools, and tricks learned from FBA members and recommendations on how to leverage opportunities and overcome any challenges that might arise.
Other Pre-Conference Workshops include: The Ecology of Fiber Broadband: Forging a Sustainable Future; Middle Mile and Fiber – Now We’re Talking; Community Broadband: Muni, Co-Op, Utility Broadband Flex Their Reach; and a workshop curated by FBA and the National Association of Counties (NACo) titled Local Look: How Communities Evaluate Fiber Builds.
The Main Event
The main conference kicks off bright and early on Monday, August 21, with remarks from FBA President and CEO Gary Bolton on the State of the Association and Industry. We’ve got a bevy of industry experts and luminaries so bright you’ll need to wear shades, including newly appointed Executive Director of The Permitting Council Eric Beightel and NTIA Digital Diversity Director Angela Thi Bennett. With over 225 speakers presenting as part of the general sessions, breakout sessions, the newly created Technology Deep Dives, and The State Broadband Summit at Fiber Connect 2023, there will be something for everyone.
Fiber Connect 2023 has several new programming elements, including six of the Operator Light Talks mentioned earlier. During these 18-minute Ted Talk-style keynotes, executives from AT&T, Consolidated Communications, EPB, Google Fiber, and Lumos Fiber will share how their customers are leveraging fiber networks to create market disruption, enabling companies and people to go further than ever before. Fiber Connect will hear about advances in Quantum computing & communications, digital equity, 5G, the future of the Internet, and how fiber broadband is providing the ultimate customer experience possible as waves of new applications and services become available across the home.
On Monday afternoon, FBA is hosting The C-Suite Forum: Forging the Connections that Define our Future, a unique opportunity for industry leaders to meet, network, share ideas, and discuss the opportunities and challenges each face as Fiber Connect collectively work to close the digital equity gap. Speakers will include NTIA Deputy Director Courtney Dozier, FCC Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau Chief Alejandro Roark, USDA RUS Administrator Andy Berke, and The Permitting Council’s Executive Director Beightel, as well as state broadband officers and other experts that can help member companies navigate federal funding options. FBA is in a unique position, based on its over 500 members, to include the top executives from the companies that will leverage federal funding programs like NTIA's BEAD program to take their fiber networks forward.
Monday and Tuesday afternoons also include a newly created program in partnership with The Broadband Forum – Technology Deep Dives. Theseare 90-minute panels where we’ll discuss the technical considerations, opportunities, and challenges as the industry looks to push fiber further. At Fiber Connect 2023, leading engineers, innovators, and technologists will dive deep into the Future of Fiber Access Networks; The Connected User & Services; ODN Design and Implementation; and Middle Mile & Service Delivery. This new program is ideal for any operational experts, design engineers, and other technology staff that want to learn more about where fiber goes next.
A total of 42 breakout sessions, which focus on market drivers and opportunities, will be divided into seven tracks on Monday and Tuesday. Some tracks offer programming on both days, some just on one, so refer to the Fiber Connect 2023 conference website for specific sessions, topics, and speakers. Returning topics include popular tracks focused on innovation, network perspectives, case studies, and deployment challenges. New content this year includes tracks focused on marketing tactics, fiber financials, in-home experience, 5G and fiber, supply chain & manufacturing, and a track curated by one of our media partners, Cablefax and ACA Connects, designed to discuss the role of fiber broadband in cable operators’ future plans.
On Wednesday, August 23, FBA is hosting The State Broadband Summit at Fiber Connect 2023. Developed and curated by the Broadband Access Initiative team at The Pew Charitable Trusts, the one-day summit will tackle the critical issues of the day as states start to submit their five-year broadband rollout plans. FBA is bringing together all parts of the fiber broadband ecosystem to discuss the path forward – the who, what, when, and how our industry will close the Digital Equity Gap for every community, household, and person. The State Broadband Summit kicks off with an NTIA Update on the Buy America Build America program, followed by discussions with four state broadband offices on each’s five-year plan, a conversation with state legislators, a panel on building coalitions, and a review of federal funding programs from USDA Rural Development, the Capital Projects Fund, the White House Council on Native American Affairs and HUD’s Block Grant program.
Of course, Fiber Connect 2023 is about much more than in-depth programming, inspiring debates, and fresh perspectives. It’s also about the opportunity to learn about new products and technologies, see innovative Proof of Concept Demonstrations, network with old friends, and meet new acquaintances. All this and more can be found on the Expo Hall floor, where over 230+ exhibitors will be showing the products and services available as part of the fiber broadband ecosystem. The Expo Hall Theater and the brand new 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar is where FBA is hosting several Meet-and-Greets, including the DE&I and Women in Fiber Meet ups. For those that want to get together with like-minded folks outside of Expo Hours, the First Time Attendees and Fiber Under 40 group Fiber Meet Up is happening at Wreckers Sports Bar on Sunday evening.
Registration links are available on the conference website.