Tower Talks with Inside Towers

#259 - Clearfield: From Access to AI, Fiber’s Expanding Role

Discussions at Fiber Connect 2026 addressed fiber deployments across a range of access and transport applications for broadband, wireless, data center and IoT uses. Clearfield [https://www.seeclearfield.com/] bills itself as “The Fiber to Anywhere Company” and offers a wide variety of patented designed and manufactured components and connectivity elements that help speed up fiber deployments at lower labor costs. Anis Khemakhem, Chief Commercial Officer at Clearfield, joined John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor, at the event to discuss the opportunities and challenges with achieving efficient and cost-effective fiber deployments across a range of digital infrastructure applications.  Support the show [https://insidetowers.com/subscription/]

#258 - Network Connex: Wireless, Fiber, and Data Center Connectivity Convergence

Fiber Connect 2026 proved to be quite timely and significant at this point in the telecom industry with data center expansion booming, fiber builds ramping up with BEAD funding, and ongoing new tower construction. Doug Wittrock, Chief Operating Officer at Network Connex [./] sat down with John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor at the event to share his perspectives and outlook on the opportunities and challenges with designing and building facilities across the range of digital infrastructure asset classes. Support the show [https://insidetowers.com/subscription/]

#257 - Husch Blackwell: From AI Factories to the Edge: The Next Data Center Shift

Hyperscale data centers, (aka AI factories), are expanding rapidly to develop AI Large Learning Models. However, the notion of edge data centers for AI Inference and high-speed, low-latency applications is getting renewed attention. Rod Carter and Jake Remington, partners at the telecom law practice at Husch Blackwell [https://www.huschblackwell.com/industries_services/telecommunications], discuss with John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor, the issues related to planning, locating and operating edge data centers. Support the show [https://insidetowers.com/subscription/]

#256 - Ontivity: The Evolving Digital Infrastructure Ecosystem

The telecom industry is evolving from distinct wireless and wireline businesses into a broader digital infrastructure ecosystem. Ontivity [https://www.ontivity.com/] is a company that is involved in a number of key aspects of designing and building a range of digital infrastructure asset classes. Eric Chase, Executive Chairman of Ontivity, and Dave Mayo, Senior Technology Executive serving on the Ontivity board of directors share their perspectives on these developments with John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor. Support the show [https://insidetowers.com/subscription/]

#255 - Valmont: The Silent Signal Killer, Finding & Fixing PIM

Any kind of RF interference at a call site will diminish connections to cell phones and cause poor service which leads to customer complaints. Unlike active interference from nearby antennas, PIM, or passive intermodulation interference, can be caused by many elements in and around a cell site on a tower. These conditions make PIM hard to detect and mitigate.    Drew Martin, Sales Engineer-Interference with Valmont Telecom [https://www.valmonttelecom.com/?utm_source=New+Inside+Towers+List&utm_campaign=84468936b1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_05_12_02_06&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-84468936b1-] speaks with John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor about PIM – what it is, how to detect it and how to minimize it.   Support the show [https://insidetowers.com/subscription/]