In this Building Broadband episode of Broadband Pulse, we're tracking new broadband deployments from Comcast, Digital C, Intrepid Fiber Networks, Optimum, Shentel, STELLAR Broadband, and Wyyered Fiber.

About the Podcast In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address key issues affecting the optical and broadband industries. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com/.

As the demands from AI have created new bandwidth expectations, the Optical Interoperability Forum (OIF) realizes that it has to respond to new demands for industry interoperability in near real time. This was reflected in the OIF’s Next Generation CEI-448G Framework Document, released at its recent Q4 2025 Technical and MA&E Committees Meeting. OIF’s CEI-448G Framework Document defines the application spaces, technical challenges and potential solution paths for electrical interfaces operating at 448 Gbps per lane.

During this podcast, we talked to two optical industry veterans about OIF’s recent CEI documents and its expectations for OIF’s first quarter 2026 Technical and MA&E Committees meeting at the OFC show in March:

Nathan Tracy, President of OIF

And

Cathy Liu, board member of OIF

Here's a timeline of the interview's key moments:

Opening | 0:00

Host introduction of guests | 0:03

Update on recent OIF activities | 0:30 Nathan Tracy and Kathy Liu address the OIF’s new CEI 448G framework.

Focus on interoperability | 2:00 How AI/ML has created the hardest data rate jump it has ever faced.

OIF’s February Q1 meeting | 6:20 Tracy and Liu give a preview of the OIF’s upcoming quarterly meeting and a preview of OFC activities.

Coherent optics | 10:24 How the OIF can deliver value by creating coherent optic standards recommendations for shorter lengths, including in campus or building settings.

The Data Center Interconnect (DCI) opportunity |14:25 The OIF is helping its membership address the hyperscale and AI compute needs.

Final thoughts/closing | 16:30 Tracy and Liu

About our guests

Nathan Tracy, President of OIF Nathan Tracy currently serves as OIF’s President on the Board of Directors. Over the past 13 years, he has also served OIF as vice president of marketing, co-chair of the market awareness and education (MA&E) committee, technical committee chair, and technical committee vice chair. As a technologist on the system architecture team for the Digital Data Networks business unit at TE Connectivity (TE), he is responsible for driving standards activities and working with key customers to enable new system architecture. Tracy has more than 30 years of experience in technology development, marketing, and business development for TE, with a focus on RF/microwave and high-speed signaling technologies for the networking, telecom, wireless, automotive, and defense markets. He is also an active member of other industry standards and associations. He is currently a regular attendee and contributor to IEEE 802.3 and the Ethernet Alliance. Additionally, he is active in several industry MSAs and forums, where he has held leadership roles.

And Cathy Liu, board member of OIF Cathy Liu, distinguished Engineer, currently leads Broadcom’s SerDes architecture and modeling group. Since 2002, she has been working on high-speed transceiver solutions. Previously, she developed read channel and mobile digital TV receiver solutions. She specializes in signal processing, FEC, and modeling for high-speed optical and electrical transceiver solutions, has published numerous journal and conference papers, and holds over 20 U.S. patents. She currently serves as the vice president of the board director of Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), a member of the board of advisors for the department of Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) of University of California at Davis, a member of Signal Integrity Journal editorial advisory board, and the co-chair of the DesignCon technical track of high speed signal processing, equalization and coding. She received the DesignCon 2021 Engineer of the Year award. She earned her B.S. in Electronic Engineering from Tsinghua University in China and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Hawaii.

About the Podcast In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address key issues affecting the optical and broadband industries. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com/.

Founded in 2023 in Houston, Texas, by Carter Old and SDC Capital Partners, Lyte Fiber focuses on delivering fiber-based broadband in Texas and beyond. Old, a former US Navy officer, has extensive experience in developing new approaches to broadband delivery and financial expertise across various industry segments. Lyte Fiber is not Old's first fiber rodeo. Before co-founding Lyte Fiber, he co-founded Tachus, which fellow fiber broadband provider Ezee Fiber recently acquired.

Lyte offers both residential and business internet service plans supported by an XGS-PON access network capable of delivering up to 10 Gbps. Today, Lyte Fiber serves nine Texas communities and plans to expand further in the coming year. Old acknowledged that while the fiber broadband industry is “really competitive,” there’s a big opportunity to address underserved communities with fiber-based broadband services.

Here's a timeline of the interview's key moments:

Opening | 0.00

Host introduction of guests | 0:03

Founding Lyte Fiber | 0:18 Old discusses how he worked with SDC Capital to form his latest startup.

Network expansion | 3:13 How Lyte Fiber has prioritized fiber builds in underserved communities.

Engaging with communities | 5:35 Lyte Fiber focuses on leading first with building long-term relationships.

Fiber’s community impact | 8:02 How the presence of fiber-based broadband makes a community more attractive for existing and new residents.

Underserved communities | 11:43 Old addresses the challenges of bringing fiber to underserved communities.

Community permitting | 13:12 As it moves to get fiber lit in 15 markets, permitting is an all-hands-on-deck effort.

Navigating the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program (BEAD) Program | 15:11 The state of Texas recently awarded Lyte Fiber $142 million to connect seven communities.

The broadband M&A wave |18:41 Lyte Fiber is actively evaluating potential opportunities.

Broadband competition | 20:22 Within Lyte Fiber’s markets, the provider mainly faces competition from cable operators.

Final thoughts/closing | 23:17 Looking ahead, Lyte Fiber will focus on scaling, delivering solid customer service, ensuring network reliability, and addressing each community’s needs.

About our guest

Carter Old is Founder and CEO of Lyte Fiber, LLC, a Texas-based fiber broadband internet company formed in partnership with SDC Capital Partners. Before he founded Lyte, Carter co-founded Tachus, LLC, a Houston-based fiber broadband internet company that he helped build and grow to nearly 160 employees, 70,000+ passed homes, and 20,000+ customers in three and a half years. Under his leadership, Tachus raised over $190 million in total debt and equity capital. While at Tachus, he and his business partner were named finalists for the 2022 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® Central South Awards. In addition to his fiber broadband experience, Old was the co-founder of OmniEarth, an Earth intelligence and analytics company based in Arlington, VA. He also worked at Fieldstone Partners, where he served as Senior Vice President and COO and co-led Fieldstone’s space and ground infrastructure business areas.

Earlier, Old served on active duty for four years as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy. He was initially the First Lieutenant and then the Naval Infantry Officer for USS BULKELEY (DDG 84) on his first tour, and then the Operations Officer for MCM CREW LEADER on his second tour. He attended the University of Texas at Austin on a Navy ROTC scholarship and graduated with a B.A. in Government. He also has an M.B.A. from UT-Austin.

About the Podcast In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address key issues affecting the optical and broadband industries. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com/.

In this latest issue of Building Broadband, we’re tracking new broadband deployments from Bluepeak, Cajun Broadband, Comcast, Ezee Fiber, Fidium, Ripple Fiber, Surf Internet and Ziply.

About the Podcast In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address key issues affecting the optical and broadband industries. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com/.

Arelion enhances its European reach while carving out a position in the ever-evolving enterprise services market.

As chief evangelist at Arelion, Mattias Fridström is passionate about networking. A nearly 30-year veteran of the service provider, Fridström not only has insights into the networked economy but also into the challenges network providers will face tomorrow in meeting ever-increasing traffic demand and customer quality expectations within the same cost framework. However, his passion is not limited to networks: he has played golf professionally and competed at the national level in football and in in-line hockey (the Swedish name for floorball).

Arelion has continued to evolve since it began building its network in 1993, when its Autonomous System (AS) 1299 was allocated. The provider has continued to grow organically ever since. The service provider’s network now stretches 77,000 km across Europe, North America, and Asia. Customers connect directly to over 2,900 wholesale customers in more than 129 countries. Also, Arelion has over 450 local access partners worldwide. In 2025, the service provider took a significant step to enhance its European network reach by expanding its Baltic network, constructing a fully diverse, high-capacity route between Helsinki and Warsaw. And while Arelion is a well-known wholesale carrier, earlier this year it began to expand into the enterprise services market. Arelion continues to succeed in selling its products to businesses directly and via agents.

In this podcast, we spoke with Fridström about the service provider’s ongoing network expansion and its move to establish a stronger brand foothold in the enterprise services market.

Here's a timeline of the interview's key moments:

Opening | 0.00

Host introduction of guests | 0:03

Arelion’s recent Baltic to Western Europe network route | 0:27 This new network is built to bypass traditionally congested routes, providing resilience for carrier and enterprise customers.

The EU's Connecting Europe Facility 2 (CEF2) program | 2:07 How Arelion is leveraging CEF2 funding to modernize transport networks in underserved areas of Europe, like the Baltics.

Arelion’s European network plans | 3:27 Fridström explains how the Baltic expansion fits into the broader European connectivity trends.

Arelion’s network redundancy approaches | 4:22 How Arelion’s customers value having multiple network paths to data centers and other critical locations.

Approaching data center opportunities | 5:31 Arelion works to provide the best path for extending fiber to new data centers.

Local and regional data centers | 7:03 How new data centers drive Arelion’s network expansion plans.

Arelion’s broad network reach | 8:20 The service provider’s network can accommodate customers with global reach needs.

Serving enterprise customers | 9:23 How Arelion can apply its wholesale service experience to meet business customer needs.

Establishing an enterprise services brand |10:55 Arelion is working to show enterprises that it is a viable provider.

The role of Network as a Service (NaaS) | 12:51 While Arelion's view of NaaS is excellent, it faces several challenges.

AI’s influence | 14:32 How AI-driven traffic influences Arelion’s network planning process.

Looking forward to 2026 |16:36 Arelion sets its course for carrier and enterprise service opportunities.

Final thoughts and closing |18:32 Besides anticipating additional traffic growth, Fridström sees potential upside in the enterprise services market.

About the Podcast In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address key issues affecting the optical and broadband industries. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com/.

In this latest issue of Building Broadband, we’re tracking new broadband deployments from Dobson Fiber, Fidium, Henderson Municipal Power & Light, Metronet Fiber, Omni Fiber, Spectrum, TDS Telecom and Wecom Fiber.

About the Podcast In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com.

With most people being distracted during the holidays, online scammers are ready to pounce on consumers. According to Optimum, the most common online scams identified by Optimum’s cybersecurity team this season include phishing websites, smishing scams, non-delivery schemes, charity fraud and travel scams.

The company shared these insights in October during the worldwide Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Today, Optimum’s network blocks thousands of malicious attack attempts daily for our customers, ranging from phishing, smishing, spam, malware and other scams.

Optimum is in an interesting position to help consumers with battling online threats. Consider that over the last three years, the cable MSO has been transforming its business, which includes investing heavily in its network to expand service across its 21-state footprint. This year, the company has surpassed 3 million Fiber passings and has seen 50% fewer network outages.

In this episode, we talked to Ben Smith, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Optimum, about the top security threats consumers face and how to avoid potential traps.

Here is a timeline of the episode:

0:03 Opening

0:40 Optimum’s celebration of Cybersecurity Awareness Month How scam artists and hackers ramp up their attacks on consumers during the holiday season.

6:54 Scammers leveraging AI. Using AI to conduct phishing to spoof the look and feel of an email that might come directly from a company.

8:09 Optimum’s cybersecurity efforts The service provider is scaling its security controls, visibility and governance.

10:31 Bundling security with broadband Optimum is developing an advanced security offering that will allow consumers to manage their own Internet security.

12:09 Regulatory compliance and resilience. Optimum continues to hold operational testing of its cybersecurity operations.

14:09 Final thoughts/wrap up

About our guest Ben Smith serves as the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Optimum, where he leads the company’s enterprise cybersecurity, governance, and IT risk management strategy. With over 20 years of experience across telecommunications, healthcare, and financial services, he has built and led security and IT risk management programs that align technology with organizational strategy, operational resilience, and regulatory requirements.

He serves on the Board of Directors of Hudson Valley Credit Union as Board Secretary and is a member of the Governance and Nominations Committee as well as the Finance Committee. In the past, he has served on multiple not-for-profit and community Boards and Advisory Committees.

A seasoned advisor to leading cybersecurity organizations, Ben leverages his executive and board experience to drive product strategy and market expansion within regulated industries. He holds both an MBA and a B.S. in Management Information Systems from Rochester Institute of Technology, along with CISSP and CHCIO certifications.

About the Podcast In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address the key issues affecting the optical and broadband industry segments. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com.