TeleGeography Explains the Internet

Joining us today is FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington. Commissioner Simington has served on the Commission since late 2020. He brings a diverse background to the role, including experience with the NTIA. The Commissioner and Host Greg Bryan cover several key issues facing the FCC: 👉 Several issues surrounding spectrum allocation and use. We talk about how FWA and LEO fit in spectrum plans, CBRS, unlicensed spectrum, and, of course, a bit on spectrum auctions. 👉 BIL and broadband development and the role wireless can play in closing the digital divide. 👉 The FCC’s role in submarine cable development and the Commissioner's views on ensuring submarine cable security. 👉 The Cyber Trust Mark and the FCC’s role in securing the ever-expanding threat perimeter and the Commissioner's views on how to get OEMs invested in keeping users safe. * Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast [https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast] * TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ [https://blog.telegeography.com/] * Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research [https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research]

We welcome Michael Martin, formerly a global network and security architect at McKinsey.  Michael has extensive experience in the enterprise network space. We get his take on the industry's state of implementation of network automation among enterprises. Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Dennis Thankachan, Co-Founder and CEO of Lightyear (https://lightyear.ai/), is back on the pod. We discuss Lightyear's State of Connectivity Report (https://lightyear.ai/ebooks/lightyears-state-of-connectivity-2025), which dovetails with the topics we research here at TeleGeography. It may be a perfect companion to our State of the Network effort. (https://www2.telegeography.com/download-state-of-the-network) Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

We haven't been getting enough fiber here at TeleGeography Explains the Internet, but we're about to change that. We welcome Todd Chapman, a veteran in fiber development. Todd walks us through the ins and outs of Layer 0 of the physical infrastructure underlying data transmission.   Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Our next guest is Fahim Sabir, Director of Digital Solutions at Colt. What is NaaS? Fahim joined us to clarify the often confusing world of Network as a Service (NaaS). We discuss Fahim's definition of NaaS and a breakdown of why it's important in the market. We also discuss the back end, examining what the carrier ecosystem needs to accomplish to make customer-facing NaaS a reality. * Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast * TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ * Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research