Telecom and utilities news and perspectives

• Fiber network industry and markets
• Employee spotlight

Employee spotlight: Seth Straayer

At 3-GIS, our work is powered by more than technology. It is powered by our people. From problem-solving behind the scenes to supporting customers and teammates every day, our employees bring the experience, care, and creativity that move our company forward.

In today's post, we're highlighting Seth Straayer, Senior Consultant. We recently sat down with him to learn more about his background, gain his perspective on industry trends, and get his thoughts on where telecom is headed next.

• Fiber network industry and markets
• Broadband funding
• Press

Telecom industry pulse: March 2026 recap

Network news roundup

March’s telecom news cycle centered on rural fiber expansion, tribal connectivity, consolidation among major providers, and continued pressure to remove policy and permitting bottlenecks.

Providers pushed fiber into smaller and harder-to-reach markets, closed out state-supported projects, and continued pairing infrastructure investment with in-home performance improvements. At the same time, policy conversations focused on clearing legacy barriers slowing deployment.

• Fiber network industry and markets
• Broadband funding
• Press

Telecom industry pulse: February 2026 recap

Network news roundup

Fiber expansion, Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program approvals, AI-driven infrastructure investment, and upstream demand growth shaped February’s telecom news cycle.

Operators closed major acquisitions and expanded into new metro markets. US states moved closer to deploying BEAD funds. Data center operators secured long-term energy agreements to support rising AI workloads. Meanwhile, broadband usage trends showed upstream consumption continuing to climb.

• Fiber network management
• Fiber network industry and markets
• Communications service providers

Beyond the build: Why operational truth matters more than ever

At some point in almost every transformation conversation, someone will say, “We just need a digital twin”. It sounds like the right answer. It signals progress, modernisation, and ambition. Yet in practice, what usually follows is far less transformative; dashboards that look impressive but change little, pilot projects that never quite scale, and operational teams quietly returning to spreadsheets once real-world complexity sets in.

• Fiber network industry and markets
• Broadband funding
• Press

Telecom industry pulse: January 2026 recap

Network news roundup

January reinforced a trend the industry has been circling for months. Fiber investment is still moving forward, but it is being shaped less by federal optimism and more by private capital, workforce realities, and regulatory tradeoffs. Local expansions continued city by city, global operators posted strong financial signals, and policymakers wrestled with how broadband, AI, and labor intersect in practice—not theory.

• Fiber network management
• Fiber network industry and markets
• Telecom technologies

How the telecom skills gap is reshaping operations

Telecom networks are expanding faster than ever. Today, fiber is available to more than half of U.S. households, a share that continues to grow as public and private investment ramps up.¹ Fiber is pushing deeper into communities, funding programs are compressing build timelines, and expectations for reliability keep rising. 

At the same time, the people who know how these networks actually work, and more importantly how to keep them running, are becoming harder to find.

• Fiber network industry and markets
• Telecom technologies
• Press

Telecom industry pulse: December 2025 recap

Network news roundup

December closed the year with a familiar mix of momentum and friction. Operators kept pushing fiber deeper into markets; states worked to clear long-standing permitting bottlenecks, and AI-driven demand continued to shape backbone decisions. At the same time, uncertainty around the U.S. Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program crept back in, and big carriers made it clear that internal restructuring is far from over.

• Fiber network industry and markets
• Telecom technologies
• Press

Telecom industry pulse: November 2025 recap

Network news roundup

From workforce pressures to new federal rules, inland long-haul routes, and aggressive fiber builds tied to AI, November’s headlines showed the same core trend: the market is moving ahead, but the economics and staffing behind those builds are getting harder to ignore.