Podcast: Clearfield CEO Cheri Beranek on the growth of 'community' broadband

8/2/2021

Clearfield CEO Cheri Beranek joins the podcast to talk about how she's helped build a company that keeps growing as more and more community broadband providers deploy fiber. Clearfield classifies utilities, municipalities and small telcos as "community" providers because, as Beranek explains, they "were not having their needs met by the typical Tier 1 incumbent providers."

She continued, "I think what's important about that is those decisions are being made at the community level. And they're benefiting those environments, at the community level, rather than by a national decision. And that's really what's exciting, I think right now and in broadband is that people are taking ownership over their Internet services and not taking a backseat and waiting for someone else to do it for them."

Clearfield has large customers, too; Google Fiber and a few Tier 1s are in the company's customer mix. But for the 12-month period that ended June 30, Clearfield's net sales to community broadband providers was $86.1 million, up 56% from a year ago. In the podcast, Beranek talks about how that market is taking shape and where she sees new opportunities in fiber broadband.

This podcast was recorded on July 26 in the press room at the FiberConnect 2021 conference in Nashville.