The national Digital Divide Award goes to...

On this episode of Connected Nation, we wrap up our coverage from the 2025 Broadband Communities Summit in Houston, Texas. 

Telecommunications legal expert Philip Macres breaks down the new BEAD rules—what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s uncertain—as states prepare for fast-moving deadlines and funding decisions. 

Then we sit down with Megan Steckly, CEO of Compudopt, this year’s National Digital Divide Award winner, to hear how her nonprofit is on track to impact 1 million lives through digital inclusion.

Recommended Links:

Compudopt Website

Philip's LinkedIn

Megan's LinkedIn

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:03 BEAD rule changes with Philip Macres
• 3:15 The good, the bad & the fiber
• 5:23 FCC shakeup & USF legal concerns
• 10:54 Compudopt's national impact with CEO Megan Steckly
• 14:59 From local to national: A nonprofit's journey
• 22:18 Dreaming big, reaching 1 million lives

Transcript

Jessica Denson (00:07):

On this episode of Connected Nation, we wrap up our coverage from the Broadband Community Summit, which took place in Houston, Texas, June 24th and 25th. On this edition, we talk with one telecommunications legal Eagle about the new rules Guiding Bead plus Comp dot wins, the National Digital Divide Award. Hear from the nonprofit CEO about the incredible milestone she and her team still plan to reach this year. I'm Jessica Sen, and this is Connected Nation. I am at day two of the Broadband Community Summit, and I am sitting here with Philip Makris, who's with the Klein Law Group. We've talked to him before. Uh, he's very knowledgeable about the telecommunications, uh, industry and what's going on with it. Um, I ran into you last night and said, please stop by. I'd love to get an update. How are you doing, Philip? Philip Macres (01:03):

Doing great. Jessica, thank you for inviting me to just talk on your, your podcast. Jessica Denson (01:07):

Yeah. I always love talking to you. You've always got a lot of energy, you know, what's going on. What, what is happening right now in your mind with, let's start with bead, of course. <laugh>. Philip Macres (01:17):

Well, it's the fast and furious, uh, uh, we're moving, uh, we're moving forward after we heard the bead guidance that was released on June, uh, June 5th or so, um, sixth, um, Jessica Denson (01:27):

June 6th. Yeah. Philip Macres (01:28):

Uh, and with that guidance state broadband offices, uh, have 90 days to, uh, recalibrate their unserved and underserved areas to account and take out the unlicensed switch, wireless, uh, fixed wireless, and then have those remaining locations, uh, available for bead funding and, you know, have their benefit of the Bar Bargain program. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So it's, uh, it's moving forward quickly. Some states may not be moving forward as quickly because they may be asking for extra time. So like the, the state of Texas, uhhuh and other states that are just looking at this and assessing how can we best proceed forward given the changes. Um, other states are just hitting the pedal to the metal. Like Virginia.
(02:08)
They release their, uh, their, their notice to the unlicensed switch, uh, fixed wireless mm-hmm <affirmative>. And they ask them to say, Hey, if you have any, um, wire fixed wireless, unlicensed, fixed wireless in the state of Virginia to identify those locations, and we'll remove them from the map they had to do. So, uh, file their letter of intent and then provide evidence. But at the same point in time, on a similar path, Virginia's asking for those that wanna participate in their benefit of the bargain on a parallel path. They're having them file their letters of intent, and they have to file their, uh, benefit of the bargain proposal by, what's it, July 2nd. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Which is, you know, Jessica Denson (02:45):

Just around the corner, Philip Macres (02:46):

Just Yeah. A week away. You know, that's, you know, in the middle of a week of that, most people take off on a vacation. So if you're on vacation and you're thinking about vacation and you're thinking about Virginia, this may upset it, but, you know, or you could try to get it in sooner, <laugh>, which is gonna require a even faster fire drill <laugh>. Jessica Denson (03:02):

Yeah. So, for you, what were some things, um, maybe that surprised you about the new rules, regulations, or frustrated you, and what were some things that you're like, yeah, that's the right decision? Philip Macres (03:13):

Uh, yeah, so the good, bad, and the ugly. Jessica Denson (03:15):

Yeah. Philip Macres (03:15):

Um, good is that we got a, we got the revamping out, the guidance out, and that tells us how to proceed forward. Jessica Denson (03:22):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Philip Macres (03:22):

Um, the bad is that they put all the technology on a neutral basis. They include, even include switch. Uh, they even include, uh, Leos, uh, uh, and, and, and upgraded coax and unlicensed switch, uh, fixed wireless. I keep on saying switch wireless, fixed wireless on the same playing field as fiber. Um, I thought there would be a, uh, a bifurcation with fiber and up fiber up to a certain point or a price point, and then there would be something other like reliable broadband service, which would've been these alternative technologies. But what, right now it's a all on a level playing field that, and they opened up the benefit of the bargain Jessica Denson (03:59):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Philip Macres (03:59):

And which means the, the lowest cost wins. If you're within 15% of the lowest cost, another competitor, they can look at speed. They may look at whether or not you are provisional winner. They may look at, uh, your ability to, you know, expand your network, um, and, and scale your network. So there's, you know, there's a lot of unknowns right there relative to if you're within the 15%, but you have to be within that 15%. Otherwise, they're looking for the lowest cost. Jessica Denson (04:26):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And what about, what's, what are some of the good things about the, the, uh, is there, are there some positives that we saw from the new rules and regulations? Philip Macres (04:34):

Well, like I said, the positive is that we're gonna hit the pedal to the metal and get this done. Uhhuh, <affirmative>. Um, and some, some might be move, some states may be moving faster than others. Everyone thinks that this is gonna be done in 90 days. But, you know, realistically speaking, states are in a different timeframe, and they were asked a lot of them, uh, from the, the, the administration to do a lot in 90 days. Heck, they asked them to do this, the mm-hmm <affirmative>. The, the unlicensed, uh, fixed wireless to get them off the map, to have their benefit of the Barat Bargain Program, to have their negotiation, the turnaround, and have a proposal to them within 90 days, and then they get 90 days. That's NTIA get 90 days to consider the proposal, either accept or reject it or send it back, you know mm-hmm <affirmative>. And say, you need to tweak it. Um, which is convenient, you know, 90 days to do that. So I think the expectation was, Hey, if you need more time, we'll give you more time. You always have that option, but we're gonna try to do something by the end of the year. Jessica Denson (05:23):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So, Philip Macres (05:24):

And, Jessica Denson (05:24):

Um, we just had a new FCC Commissioner, uh, uh, approved, um, or confirmed rather, and there's a lot of up people with USF. Uh, what do you think is the future of this? Are we gonna see more change come coming in your opinion? Philip Macres (05:42):

I think we'll see more change coming. Um, I'm not that at cautiously optimistic, are the others are Jessica Denson (05:47):

Uhhuh <affirmative>, Philip Macres (05:47):

I'm, you know, kind of mortified by this, the case case that came out and was released on Friday, the McLaughlin case, which said, Hey, the FCC even outside of a rulemaking Jessica Denson (05:58):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Philip Macres (05:59):

Um, and any declaratory decisions that they make in a rulemaking proceeding, if you are in subject to an enforcement proceeding, you could, um, in, in that enforcement proceeding before the district court, the district court judge could overrule the FCC. So it's Jessica Denson (06:14):

Just takes a lot of their power Philip Macres (06:14):

Away. It takes a lot of their power. The TCPA, when you get some rules that tell you what the rules of the road are Jessica Denson (06:19):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Philip Macres (06:19):

It could ultimately be changed if you're relying on those rules. So that, you know, I was taken by that. Um, so if I'm thinking that Supreme Court is looking at this decision from Friday, and they're also looking at a draft universal service fund order Jessica Denson (06:34):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Philip Macres (06:35):

They're taking away from the FCC and makes me think, why would they take away so heavily on one hand and, and affirm this on constitutional grounds? I think they may say, well, the FCC needs to have more congressional oversight on any spending, and that might be the case. So I'm, you know, coin toss right now, <laugh>, Jessica Denson (06:54):

But are, are you getting a lot of questions from people that are like, are from groups that are dealing with this about what do we do now? Philip Macres (07:01):

Uh, well, what do we do now relative to USF? We have to do something, it doesn't matter. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So they have to fix the program, the funding of the program, how they fund it, and, uh, who gets, uh, who has to pay into the fund. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Uh, right now it's just too much being on the shoulders of the telecom providers, which is basically the plain old telephone service. You remember the phone, the rotary dial phone, the push dial phone, those, these phones. Um, but now it's all VoIP based, and yes, they pay into USF, but still it's, you know, we're paying for actually broadband service, you know, and, uh, because broadband services is being funded by USF and deploying those networks, everybody, the whole, uh, the universe, um, stakeholders should be involved in contributing to this. So we can get, have a robust program. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Not just a few, Jessica Denson (07:48):

Few. So, uh, other than what's going on with BEAD and the talk, the talk about that, uh, how has your summit been? Has it been good informative, or are you have making good connections? What is it for you that the, these types of events are important? Philip Macres (08:01):

Um, it's great to see everybody and see a lot of perspectives from other, uh, whether they're leaders, uh, state broadband offices, uh, with associations and perspectives they bring to the table, um, relative to the BEAT guidance and how they're looking at it and how they, uh, propose, uh, going forward. Um, it seems, you know, and it, it, it, it, it, the continuum, it goes across the continuum. There's no real consensus, I think, on perspectives. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Some people believe, Hey, maybe we can do this, uh, relative to, uh, and, and achieve fiber through, uh, scalability and through late reliability arguments. And some are like, Hey, you know, that's, you know, you're, you're trying to end run what the guidance said otherwise, the guidance wouldn't have put everything tech neutral. So, um, there's a tug of war there, seeing what the will ultimately adopt. Jessica Denson (08:57):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Philip Macres (08:58):

Um, I can't imagine they're gonna adopt an approach that will allow you to end, run what the guidance said otherwise, you're gonna have a snowball effect. Yeah. So these first folks that are out, you know, coming out of the gate fast and furious, and they're, to get their rule, they're gonna try something and say, Hey, listen, I'm gonna go for five. Or no matter what, they may be disappointed. Or if they file, they try to, they try to accommodate the guidance far more so than, um, you know, some of the folks are saying, Hey, try to stand firm and fight against the guidance and argue this, that, and the other thing. Jessica Denson (09:27):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, Philip Macres (09:28):

I think, uh, you know, which may be get overruled, so we'll just, we'll have to see. But it's, uh, just interesting coming to this event and hearing the different perspectives and how to proceed forward relative to this. We're still on the unknowns. We don't know what's gonna happen mm-hmm <affirmative>. But it's, uh, to bring everybody together to talk about it and get perspectives. It's, you know, sheds, sheds a light on where things are going, where the industry should go, what you think is possible mm-hmm Jessica Denson (09:53):

<affirmative>. Philip Macres (09:54):

And what it's like, you know, perhaps, you know, conceptual, you know, dreamy and Yeah. The end state, what, how can we get there? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. But, uh, you know, I'm, I'm, I try to be the realist here. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. I bring it in. I'm like, yeah, we can <laugh>, we can do all these alternative universe things. I'd love to live in a fantasy world and, you know, rainbows and unicorns and Gumdrop Lane, but you know, no, this is, Jessica Denson (10:15):

This is reality. Philip Macres (10:16):

This is reality. And I'm gonna tell you, you know, Jessica Denson (10:19):

Well, I grabbed you as you were going by and I promised you five minutes, and we've got almost 10, so I'm gonna let you go. Thanks. But Philip, thank you. It's always so easy to talk to you. I appreciate Philip Macres (10:27):

It. Hey, thank you. It's, uh, thank you for inviting me on your podcast, and, uh, I look forward to seeing you at future events. Jessica Denson (10:33):

So yeah, of course. <laugh>. So, Philip Macres (10:34):

Great. Jessica Denson (10:34):

Well, all Philip Macres (10:35):

Super have a happy, um, great week and a happy, um, you know, well, we have July 4th coming up. Yeah. Independence Day, so Jessica Denson (10:40):

You too. Thanks. Thank you so much. Bye. I'm at the Broadband Community Summit, and I am standing with Megan Eckley, who is with Compudopt. She's the CEO. Um, welcome me, Megan. Yeah, Megan Steckly (10:54):

Thanks, Jessica. I'm excited to be here and grateful to be talking with Connected Nation. Jessica Denson (10:58):

Yeah. Sorry, we were supposed to meet up earlier, and I'm, I totally missed your text and I apologize for that, but I appreciate, appreciate your time. Megan Steckly (11:04):

Yeah. Jessica Denson (11:05):

Uh, you were working away there on your computer. Is are things still going strong while you're even here at the summit? Megan Steckly (11:11):

Yeah, I mean, I, I think we're always kind of run off our feet and in this particular time that's, you know, had so much uncertainty this year, we're really in the midst of pivoting towards, you know, how we're gonna be able to continue to do this work in the community and deliver, um, you know, services from computers to high-speed broadband, to digital literacy training, to as many community members as possible who are in need. Jessica Denson (11:33):

So, talk about, uh, what your company does, what the organization does. Um, I know you kind of just now touched on it, but expand upon that Yeah. How long you've been around and where you work. Megan Steckly (11:42):

Yeah. So Compudopt been around for 18 years. We're actually the largest nonprofit in the country that has a complete digital opportunity solution. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, and what I mean by that is kind of what I started to touch on. We, we provide free computers to kids and families that don't have access. We're our own ISP, but we also provide sponsored plans for households with other major providers to make sure that they get high speed internet that's sustainable for them and the right solution for their home. Mm-hmm. Um, and then we do, uh, digital literacy and technology education classes that are aligned towards workforce. And all of that is supported by our nationwide contact support center with trauma-informed call center agents and live interpreters in up to 26 languages. Uh, we operate in about 66 cities and 28 states across the US and counting. Uh, and we can pop up in pretty much any city, rural, regional, or urban environment in about four weeks, assuming that we have funding committed. Jessica Denson (12:34):

So what led to this? Why, why is this even important? Megan Steckly (12:38):

I mean, the Digital Divide has been a pervasive issue for long before COVID, when it became kind of, um, you know, the golden child of, of mission moments that we needed to be focusing on. But, you know, there's still 14 million households across the United States that don't have access to technology at home. And, and certainly with COVID, we saw the, the need for that around schools and children and distance learning and education. But the way that we really think about the importance of this work is about economic mobility, right? <affirmative>, when you have access to technology at home, you are connected to the wealth of content and knowledge that's, you know, within reach simply because you have those tools. So it's really about, it's, it's about, you know, telehealth and online banking and, uh, being able to look up what the next food distribution is if you're, if you're handling food insecurity at home. Um, and actually to put it in more tangible terms, you know, the Center for Rural Innovation did a study last year about the value of, of technology at home and what is the actual material impact for a household. And actually they found that there's an 18% per capita increase in household income when you have high speed broadband, and you know how to use your technology at home to leverage it. So, you know, we really see this as, as underpinning strengthening communities, and that's why it's important. Jessica Denson (13:53):

And today, uh, connect Nations Teens Teach Tech program powered by at and t was up for the Digital Divide Award, your com, your organization won it. Congratulations. Thank Jessica Denson (14:04):

You. Jessica Denson (14:04):

Um, no, all, all goodwill here. We're excited. Anybody who's doing this work, we applaud. Um, why do you think, uh, you won? Megan Steckly (14:12):

I mean, that's a great question. To be totally frank, I was kind of surprised, and I probably would've dried my hair more this morning. <laugh>, um, had, I really thought that we would, Jessica Denson (14:20):

Your hair looks great, by the way. Megan Steckly (14:21):

Thank you. Thank you. Um, but in fact, I actually thought that Connected Nations would probably take it with your Teens program. Um, you know, I I, I, I hope that what they saw in our, um, in our nomination form was just the level of deca dedication and the breadth of work that we've done, right? Mm-hmm Jessica Denson (14:39):

<affirmative>. And Megan Steckly (14:39):

In just six years, we've gone from serving pretty much only in Houston, really, with mostly just some education and computer distribution programs. You know, like 3,500 kids a year to this year will impact 400,000 people. And in fact, in November, we're passing a really cool, exciting milestone of our 1000000th, uh, individual impacted. Jessica Denson (14:59):

That's incredible. Megan Steckly (14:59):

Our mission's incredible. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, you know, from, from being a really small kind of grassroots nonprofit, even just 10 years ago to, you know, being the largest in the country that is doing the, on the boots, on the ground execution for this, um, I never would've imagined that that we'd be passing a million people impacted. And that's, that's really exciting. So maybe it's about Jessica Denson (15:20):

That full disclosure. I was one of the judges for the awards, and I did re I, I reuse myself from the Connected Nation one, but I did read your, your, um, your submission and it was incredible. Very well Jessica Denson (15:33):

Deserved. Thank you. Thank you. Jessica Denson (15:34):

So, um, talk about as the CEO leading, as you said, from a smaller nonprofit and something to one that is impacting lives across the country. Megan Steckly (15:43):

Yeah. Jessica Denson (15:43):

How did you really focus that and make that, make push that forward, make that happen? Megan Steckly (15:48):

Yeah. You know, so our, our national expansion actually started in 2019. I joined the organization in 2015. It was me and about two other people, $230,000 operating budget, serving about 700 kids a year. And by 2019, we were serving about 3,500. We had diversified into more education programs. And, and I went to my really incredible board of directors and said, you know, I'm kind of bored <laugh>, and I really think that we should nationalize the organization, but if that's not within the vision of the board, you know, this should probably be my last year in 2020. And they were like, Nope, let's do it. So we did a bunch of work in 2019 to restructure the organization and make sure that we were, uh, prepared for capacity building and growth. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. We had a very modest goal of about 45 students to serve outside of the state of Texas. Um, when 2020 came around and the pandemic hit, uh, we just exploded, Jessica Denson (16:42):

I imagine. Megan Steckly (16:43):

Yeah. And, uh, outside of Texas that year, we handed, we handed out, uh, 11,000 computers, well exceeding that 45 goal. Um, and, uh, in Houston, we also did another 10,000 here. So total 21,000 devices that were deployed that year. Um, and, and that's really how the nationalization happened, and a core value of our organization is that we start at, yes. Um, and that doesn't mean, you know, a blanket will do absolutely anything, but it means that we wanna stay open-minded to the possibilities of service, however people need us to show up. Um, and I think that's been the secret to, to our growth has really been just our entire team's willingness to, um, center ourselves on starting and ending with what the community needs are, um, and their trust that we mean what we say when we say start it. Yes. That we want them to be able to say yes to what those community needs are, as long as they're within the scope and the mission. Um, and we can find, you know, the mission support for it. Jessica Denson (17:41):

So, um, when you, let's talk about finding mission support for it. So do the communities usually fund this or do you look for grants that fund, or how does that, that arm of it work? Megan Steckly (17:51):

Yeah, so we're a little over 90% philanthropically backed right now. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Which means we raise through grants or through individual donations. Uh, a lot of corporate corporations support our work mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, and, uh, all of those dollars are dollars are philanthropically raised, and then we have another 10% of our operating revenue that's about earned revenue. Um, and when we look at the time period that we're in right now, where, you know, we just put $28 million of our operating budget in suspension, uh, given the information, uh, from the administration, right now, we're pivoting to put more resources towards those earned revenue streams to kind of fill the gap. And so that looks like, you know, taking donated computers from corporations and wiping and refurbishing those and getting those back out. And the reason that that has such a material impact on, um, on our financial stability and our overall organizational sustainability is that when we have to purchase a computer to get it out to a family, it costs us $350 per household start to finish, including deployment, two years of tech support, two year warranties, et cetera. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. When a computer is donated, that drops all the way down to $75. Jessica Denson (18:55):

Oh, that's a huge big, Megan Steckly (18:56):

Yeah. Jessica Denson (18:57):

Big Megan Steckly (18:57):

Jump. Yeah. Yes. Not to mention the fact that of course, when there's equipment that's donated, there's a certain percentage that's not usable, that can't go back out into the community, and we get to put those on our earned revenue channels like eBay or our downstream electronics recyclers, and that revenue comes back in and supports the program Jessica Denson (19:13):

Further. Oh, that's smart. Megan Steckly (19:14):

Yeah. Yeah. Uhhuh. So it's a really great circular ecosystem that makes all of our philanthropic dollars go exponentially further. Jessica Denson (19:21):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Yeah. So if an organization wanted to bring a copied com dot, why do I have it a hard time saying that? I dunno, the name is hard. Yeah. <laugh>, and which you said before we started, the name is hard, Jessica. Yes. Um, before, uh, how do you bring in, bring them, how do you bring your organization to a community? Or if, um, somebody wants to get involved in donating to you, how, how does that Megan Steckly (19:43):

Work? Yeah, that's a great question. So, so we work both ways, right? Again, coming back to that, we start at, yeah. So if you need us to be coming into your community, uh, what we look for is obviously the philanthropic support, but the first thing that we do is sort of a market analysis. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So who else is in, in this area who's doing really great work over the last six years, there's been a ton of organizations that have really stepped up into this. Um, and so we reach out to them and, and ask whether or not, you know, what, what's the need in your community here? And that helps us really scope, like, okay, let's say, you know, we're in rural Idaho and maybe there's only, you know, 2000 households that still are without access to a computer or high-speed internet at home mm-hmm <affirmative>.
(20:25)
Well then we'll go look for a funder that supports, you know, deployment of those 2000 resources. Um, but usually the, the market landscape analysis allows us to get down to the household level, um, in terms of, you know, who's really in need. But, you know, I think organizations that, uh, that want to be making an impact in their local community simply need to give us a call mm-hmm <affirmative>. And from there we scope, like, what is the actual community need? How much is that cost? What does the deployment actually look like? And then we go and execute on it. Jessica Denson (20:54):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And I'll include a link to your, uh, nonprofit in the description of this podcast. Thank you. So people can find it. Um, what about you? I, I always do this with all my podcast guests, just to ask a little bit about you Sure. Personally, so people know you. How did you get involved with the organization? You said you were bored. Are you just one of those people that likes a challenge? What, explain that. Talk about that a little bit. Megan Steckly (21:17):

Yeah. You know, I always wanted a C-suite nonprofit job, Jessica Denson (21:21):

Uhhuh, <affirmative>. Megan Steckly (21:21):

And, um, you know, when I Jessica Denson (21:22):

Joined, I like women in the C-suite. Yeah, Megan Steckly (21:24):

That's right. High fives. Um, when I joined Compudopt 10 years ago, I'd only been in Houston for about a year. And prior to that, I'd lived for three years in Japan, and for six years in Australia. Wow. And three years in Canada before that. Wow. Right. So Jessica Denson (21:36):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Megan Steckly (21:36):

Uh, I am a person that sort of gets itchy feet and I, I like newness and, and novelty and challenge and, and I thrive on sort of, uh, you know, creative problem solving in particular, I, I love areas where you're underestimated, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And in fact, this 1 million milestone that we're gonna hit, you know, my very first year we ran a strategic planning session, uh, 10 years ago. And again, at this point, we're serving 700 kids a year, Uhhuh <affirmative>. Right. And I think maybe we'd hit our 3000th person impacted in that year. And I had a board member who's, we did this dream big goals, you know, within five or 10 years. Like, what do we really wanna be doing? And I had one board member who finally was like, fine, let's put a million people impacted up there. Oh, wow. In 10 years, Jessica Denson (22:18):

Uhhuh. Megan Steckly (22:18):

And, you know, and everybody kind of rolled their eyes was like, that's impossible. We shouldn't even put it down there. And now here we are. Right. 10 years later hitting that milestone. And so I think, like, for me personally, that feels like a really good example of, um, you know, problems I like to solve and, and, you know, things that, how do I get, get there? Jessica Denson (22:37):

Yeah. Megan Steckly (22:37):

Like how, 'cause almost everything is possible Jessica Denson (22:40):

Mm-hmm Jessica Denson (22:41):

<affirmative>. Megan Steckly (22:41):

Right. And it just takes a willingness to be, um, you know, open-minded enough and brave enough and to surround yourself with brilliant people Jessica Denson (22:49):

Mm-hmm Megan Steckly (22:50):

<affirmative>. Um, and you can, you can do just about anything. So yeah. Jessica Denson (22:53):

I love that. Yeah. That's probably gonna be the hot, the headline <laugh>. That's wonderful. Megan Steckly (22:58):

Yeah. Jessica Denson (22:59):

Well, I appreciate you so much, Meg, Megan Steck, and I'm so sorry that I missed you earlier. That's right. So I appreciate you still letting me stop by and talk to you. Megan Steckly (23:06):

Yeah, likewise. Appreciate joining you on this. So Jessica Denson (23:08):

Thanks so much. Yeah. And congrats on the award. Well, well, when you hit a million mm-hmm <affirmative>. Let's talk again. Megan Steckly (23:15):

Love that. Yeah. Will do. All right. Thanks so much. Uh, Jessica Denson (23:26):

You could probably hear people breaking down their booths behind me. That is the sound of the end of the Broadband Community Summit for 2025. It also ends our coverage for this year. I'm Jessica Sen, and this is Connected Nation.