Press Release
The annual award recognizes individuals, organizations, and companies that leverage innovation to connect communities with fiber broadband.
Washington, D.C.— The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) today announced that it presented the 2023 Dr. Charles Kao Award to James Salter, founder and CEO of Atlantic Engineering Group. Salter was awarded for his leadership as an early champion of fiber broadband since the early 2000s and for his continued fiber advocacy ever since.
The Dr. Charles Kao Award is presented each year in association with Gimme Fiber Day—an international day on November 4th to celebrate the birthday of the inventor of fiber optics. Created inn2013 by the FTTH Council Global Alliance (FCGA), Gimme Fiber Day brings recognition to the social and economic benefits of fiber broadband.
Salter spent 15 years in the electric utility industry before becoming the founder and CEO of Atlantic Engineering Group (AEG), a fiber engineering and construction company. Before being acquired in 2022 by Young’s Communications, LLC (Y-COM), AEG helped support over 130 fiber projects, including the first city-wide FTTH network in the U.S. in 2000, and more than 60 other city-wide FTTH projects, representing 2,800,000 homes passed.
Furthering his dedication to the industry, Salter served on the Fiber Broadband Association’s first Board of Directors (at a time when the Association’s name was the “FTTH Council Americas”) and was Board Chair in 2002. Today, Salter serves as Board Chair of On Trac, Inc., a broadband fulfillment service company.
“I’m truly humbled to receive this honor,” Salter said. “Over the last 20-plus years, it’s been amazing to watch fiber go from a doubted technology and difficult sell to the accepted gold standard for broadband. Ironically, I recently retired to a very rural section of Georgia, and my home just got a fiber installation on Gimme Fiber Day, November 4, this year – unbelievable! The Fiber Broadband Association should be congratulated for playing such a huge role in getting us to where we are today.”
“James’ contributions to the fiber industry have made a lasting impact on the fiber broadband industry. He is one of the great fiber leaders who created the path we’re on today, guiding us closer than ever to connecting every community to reliable, high-quality broadband,” said Gary Bolton, President and CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association. “While the fiber industry has experienced another year of exceptional growth, we continue to look to James and other fiber veterans to help us squash remaining digital inequities with the power of fiber.”
