While broadband fiber may not be something the average consumer thinks much about, it has a great impact on all of our day-to-day lives. Unfortunately, high-speed internet is something many of us take for granted.

No one knows this more than Kevin Morgan, Chief Marketing Officer for Clearfield. Host Shelby Skrhak had the opportunity to pick Morgan’s brain on a “state of the union” of sorts for fiber deployment across the country and, more specifically, rural broadband fiber.

For almost a decade, Morgan has been a seasoned advocate for broadband infrastructure and initiatives. While Morgan has always been thrilled to work at Clearfield, where he focuses on removing the barriers to fiber deployment, he feels that the tragic events of 2020 really showed the importance of the problems he is trying to solve.

“This year in particular, in 2020, has been the most bizarre, challenging year in history in terms of communications. The entire economy is shut down, we came back, we've been in quarantine, and, all along the way, we've seen evidence of what a broadband connection really means to people in their homes and their businesses,” Morgan said.

He went on to explain that the broadband used today is much different than it was even three years ago.

“We were anticipating that this demand, this amount of broadband that was needed by the public, was going to come over the period of a number of years. When March hit in 2020, all of that demand accelerated right up to the present time,” Morgan said.

He explained that, because so many people utilized broadband connections to work, for distance learning and to receive medical care via telehealth, 2020 really illustrated the importance of breaking down broadband barriers.

“The ability to be diagnosed and talk to your doctor remotely over a video link, something that was far-fetched just a few years ago is reality today. So, these things make a huge difference, and the role that fiber optics plays in providing those broadband connections is undeniably the best of all the types of technologies out there,” Morgan said.

For deeper insight into the current state and future of fiber-fed broadband, tune in to the latest episode of Better Broadband.