___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Brightspeed

As one can imagine , the fiber optic hotspots that do exist are generally in larger cities and more densely populated areas , creating a digital divide across the nation . This technological disparity is becoming more problematic as we venture further into the digital age . Luckily , Brightspeed is doing something about it .

In October 2022 , Brightspeed officially began its operations as a new company , born from Apollo Global Management ’ s acquisition of Lumen Technologies ’ assets and operations in 20 states , as an incumbent local exchange carrier ( ILEC ). It is currently the fifth largest ILEC in the US and serves over one million broadband customers .

“ We are investing $ 2 billion to build a fiber network , which will provide faster , more

reliable internet and Wi-Fi to communities across the Midwest , Southeast , and certain parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey ,” opens Brenda Rapp , Vice President of Procurement and Supply Chain .

“ Starting in late 2021 and through the buildup of establishing the new company , the focus has primarily been on creating an organization with all the necessary corporate functions , such as marketing , HR , finance , sales , IT , and legal .

“ The goal was to launch operations and transition customers to Brightspeed in late 2022 ,” she goes on . “ Following the launch , we have worked to maintain acquired services , improve our customer experience , and have started to build our new extensive fiber network .

“ The engineering and construction of the latter is taking up a lot of our current focus as we are still utilizing some of Lumen ’ s systems and processes , while also expanding our own capabilities . Overall , I would say that

scw-mag . com 35