Beyond the Cable with Brad Randall

Beyond the Cable: How ISPs can simplify operational complexity

Consolidations and network scaling are two key trends among US telecoms in 2026, but both can increase the complexity of operations, as Patricia Kellaghan of Synamedia [https://www.synamedia.com/] pointed out during her recent appearance on Beyond the Cable [https://bbcmag.com/category/podcasts/]. "Especially in broadband," she said. "What you start to see with these consolidation efforts is operators are inheriting more systems, more vendors, more device types, and more silos." Kellaghan, who serves as Synamedia's senior director of product management, said that's not the only pressures broadband providers are navigating. As a result, Kellaghan said networks need smarter tools so they can unify operations, many times with leaner teams. She said that applying visibility with intelligence can empower ISPs to address issues as they arise, without the need for long troubleshooting processes. Working with Wyndotte Municipal Services, in Michigan, a community-owned utility, Kellaghan said Synamedia's vendor-neutral Gravity [https://www.synamedia.com/product/gravity/] platform enabled the network to eliminate manual setup steps and allowed them to streamline provisioning. "That really enabled them to eliminate a lot of manual setup steps. It allowed them to streamline provisioning, reduce the swivel chair with troubleshooting, and really gave their techs and their CSRs real-time visibility into the device, but also into the fleet and network health as well.

Are ISPs getting pricing structures all wrong?

Service providers should begin offering tiered levels of service to customers based on quality of service, according to Robin Olds, a senior business development manager at Cisco Systems [https://www.cisco.com/]. Speaking on our Beyond the Cable [https://bbcmag.com/category/podcasts/] podcast at Connected America [https://www.terrapinn.com/conference/connected-america/index.stm], Olds said service providers could be doing a lot more, like offering network slicing and lanes of performance traffic across their network that they can monetize. He elaborated on that, pointing to current ISP pricing structures that are largely based on bandwidth speeds. "Latency, jitter, packet loss, these are all things that they need to consider," he said. "Additionally, they need to consider offering AI edge services to their enterprise accounts."

This German company is taking lessons learned to US MDUs

With a playbook adapted for an efficient rollout in the US market, agnoss CEO Christian Breidenbach-Kaack says the level of services agnoss can offer to multi-dwelling units offers clear advantages as a one-stop shop for network design, construction, operation, and maintenance.  The company, which has roots in Germany, is known worldwide for developi. Additionally, the company's name is a play on words, short for "agnostic networks," according to their company website [https://agnoss.com/#about]. Speaking on Beyond the Cable, a Broadband Communities podcast, at Connected America last month, Breidenbach-Kaack said some of the lessons they've learned from Europe can help provide return on investment for fiber-to-the-unit.

How Connected America's Startup of the Year Can Let Your Network Price Itself

In this episode we sit down with representatives of GFiber and KIVO, a dynamic pricing platform for telecom operators from PlektonLabs that won Startup of the Year [https://www.plektonlabs.com/press-release-kivo-startup-of-the-year-connected-america-2026-dynamic-pricing-telco/] at Connected America [https://www.terrapinn.com/conference/connected-america/index.stm]. Both interviews, captured from Connected America, dive into separate topics, including the nature of dynamic pricing, and how it can help telco operators. Tony Byrnes, head of new build expansion for GFiber, also uses the chance to dispel a myth about AI and its benefit, or lack thereof, when it comes to speeding up fiber deployments.

MCNC joins Beyond the Cable at Connected America

Tracy Doaks, the president and CEO of MCNC [https://www.mcnc.org/], says North Carolina has something special with the North Carolina Research and Education Network. Originally from Virginia, Doaks said the network, which is operated and managed by MCNC, gives tremendous benefits to smaller, mid-sized, and minority institutions in North Carolina. She said larger institutions can often afford to have their own networks for researchers. However, she added that having a shared network infrastructure has been great to make sure others share in the benefits. Also, by being a middle-mile operator, she said MCNC is able to provide smaller telecoms in the state with the opportunity to lease fiber for use in rural areas. She said rural medical centers also run on their telehealth network. "The larger incumbents aren't interested in those areas because the density is so low," she said. "So, that's been a real benefit to North Carolina, to have someone like an MCNC to be able to supply that type of connectivity." Now, she says MCNC is positioning themselves to handle the ongoing data center boom. Hear that and details about MCNC's new partnership with an electric co-op by listening to the full episode.