Fiber for Breakfast with Gary Bolton

When Jordan Arnold became Director of the Washington State Broadband Office in January 2026, the state was on the cusp of a major broadband milestone. Just weeks later, Washington received federal approval for its final BEAD proposal, unlocking more than $1 billion in investment for broadband expansion. Now, almost nine months into her role, Jordan joins Gary Bolton, President & CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association, to discuss how Washington’s broadband strategy is taking shape and what this early implementation phase is revealing.

From moving BEAD from approval to implementation to addressing the realities of deploying resilient networks in a state increasingly impacted by wildfires and other natural disasters, Jordan will share the challenges, solutions, and lessons emerging along the way. How can Washington build networks that not only connect communities, but keep them connected when they need communications most?

With Special Guest:

Jordan Arnold, Washington State Broadband Director

In this episode of Fiber for Breakfast, Gary Bolton, President & CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association, sits down with Gaurav Juneja, CEO of Fidium, to discuss the company’s next phase as a fiber-first operator. With a network spanning more than 76,000 fiber route miles, Juneja shares how Fidium is accelerating expansion, enhancing customer experience, and leveraging new capital strategies to scale. The conversation also explores Fidium’s push into wholesale and data center connectivity, its rural market advantage, and what these moves signal for the telecom landscape as competition intensifies and fiber investment surges.

With Special Guest:

Gaurav Juneja, CEO, Fidium

AI has moved beyond experimentation for forward-looking fiber providers. The real question is no longer whether AI can automate tasks. It is how organizations can leverage it securely and at scale to operate with greater consistency, confidence, and predictability, so providers of any size can compete and win across residential, business, MDU, and community markets.

In this episode of Fiber for Breakfast, Michael Weening, CEO of Calix, joins Gary Bolton, President and CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association, to discuss how providers are building secure agentic workflows and evolving the operating model required to compete and win in the AI era. The conversation will explore how providers are achieving early wins by scaling expertise, accelerating differentiated subscriber experiences, creating new capacity for growth, and delivering more predictable business outcomes.

With Special Guest:

Michael Weening, President & CEO, Calix

EPB has evolved from a leading municipal utility to a national model for advanced fiber optic infrastructure – and is now focused on establishing Chattanooga as a hub for quantum technology. As the operator of the world's fastest community-wide internet since 2010, EPB's leadership in establishing commercially available quantum networking and computing is contributing to solutions from cybersecurity to grid optimization today.

On the next episode of Fiber for Breakfast, Janet Rehberg, President & CEO-Elect of EPB, joins Gary Bolton, President & CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association, to discuss how EPB is leveraging its fiber network to lead the next wave of innovation in quantum networking, computing, and the future of connected communities.

With Special Guest:

Janet Rehberg, President & CEO-Elect, EPB

As fiber networks mature, the challenge is no longer just deployment – it’s maximizing value, differentiation, and long-term scalability. In this episode, Darren Farnan, General Manager of United Fiber joins Gary Bolton, President & CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association to explore how providers can deliver ARPU growth through deeper residential and commercial service adoption, while enhancing customer satisfaction. Darren will share how United Fiber is competing and winning in an increasingly crowded market by leaning into local advantage, transparent pricing, and superior customer experience. Finally, they’ll dive into the role of XGS-PON and multi-gig upgrades in future-proofing networks and enabling new revenue opportunities in the next era of fiber broadband.

With Special Guest:

Darren Farnen, General Manager, United Fiber