Cable broadband providers deliver high-speed connectivity across the United States, even in remote and hard-to-reach regions. Their ongoing efforts to expand infrastructure and connect as many Americans as possible underscore the importance of gathering insights from industry leaders at the forefront of broadband deployment.
Thoughts From an American Broadband Leader: In a Q&A with NCTA, Ben Dold, Midco's Chief Operating Officer, shared his thoughts on broadband expansion strategies that lead to success. Midco serves over 490,000 homes and businesses across Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, and most of their footprint is made up of rural communities, with some towns of less than 100 residents and where grain silos and water towers are prevalent.
Creating Equitable Broadband Access
In light of the challenges and opportunities in broadband expansion, here are insights and recommendations from Dold moving forward:
- "My advice to legislators and broadband officials would be to prioritize funding towards the unserved, making sure that everyone has access to a quality connection before any funding goes to residents that already have access to that," said Dold.
- "As a follow-up to that, I would say partner with providers that have been doing this for a long time. We built these future-proof networks and we understand how to do this efficiently."
- "Dold continued, "The projects I've seen be most successful in this space is where we have a really healthy relationship between the funding entity and the team actually putting the broadband out into the communities. By working together we can make sure we are efficiently utilizing these dollars and making sure we can stretch them to get to every person that needs broadband along the way."