News

A recent keynote panel at the Fiber Broadband Association’s Fiber Connect 2024 focused on ways providers and agencies are changing the value creation paradigm.

By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities

There is angst among providers regarding the federal rules surrounding the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program but Tamarah Holmes, the director of Virginia’s broadband office, said her job remains focused on building relationships.

Holmes was one of several experts who joined a panel on Monday in Nashville at Fiber Connect 2024 titled “Changing the Value Creation Paradigm: Moving Forward Once the Digital Equity Gap is Closed.”

So far, the efforts in Virginia have paid off.

“Traditionally we had a 60 percent take rate even before the pandemic,” she said. “We’ve seen a huge increase in and uptick of families taking advantage of services.”

While Holmes looks to build relationships with providers, others like Scott Hendrix, the CEO of Mississippi-based Tombigbee Fiber, have been seeking to set themselves apart in the marketplace.

Hendrix said his company uses their exceptional level of customer service as a selling point, as along with their efforts to provide reliable connectivity options to first responders.

He said the efforts can save lives in the communities Tombigbee Fiber serves.

Neith Myrick, the SVP of sales and business operations for Ting Internet, said he judges his company’s success with something he called the t-shirt test.

“You want to be proud to wear your t-shirt when you go to the grocery store, if you go to the post office,” Myrick said. “It is something that sets us apart from others.”

Shane West, the COO of Wisconsin-based TDS Telecom, cited an example from New Mexico as a time when the value his company creates for the community was on full display.

West said this specific region dealt with devastating forest fires, followed by intense floods that paralyzed communities.

He said it changed the way his firm thinks about disaster responses. As a result, TDS Telecom began focusing on solutions like portable hub sites that can provide services to fire departments and police departments in the aftermath of a disaster.

“It’s forced us to reevaluate our physical responses,” West said.

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