Beyond the Cable: Why everyone wins when smaller ISPs succeed

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Jon Carlson, senior vice president of business development at Ibex, says everyone wins with a healthy ISP ecosystem, not just corporations.

By Brad Randall, Broadband Communities

Success for second- and third-tier ISPs has a lasting effect, not just on the health of the telecoms industry, but on the communities they serve.

As Jon Carlson stresses, the message may sound cliche, but it remains understated.

“Success for those tier two and tier three (ISPs) is super important for those organizations, for those companies,” he said, “but it’s really super important for the populations that their servicing, who just have not had the access that they deserve.”

Carlson also argued that residents in historically underserved rural communities deserve choice.

He said when smaller ISPs are willing to make investments in rural communities, it drives success for the entire geographical area they serve.

Yet, Carlson said the vision of growth is often different from the reality of growth for smaller ISPs.

As he says, “it’s the mechanics of the day to day that actually allows growth to happen.”

ISPs need mechanisms in place not just to accomplish today’s tasks, but tomorrow’s tasks, next week’s tasks, and next quarter’s tasks, he added.

He said following a playbook and sticking to it is key, he said, comparing his strategy to the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen (a doctrine that places importance on small, incremental improvements over time).

Through continuous process improvement, Carlson said organizations have a tremendous chance to achieve their goals.