Gabe Waggoner on public-private collaboration
From Behind the Build: How Fidium Operates at Scale · · Fidium
“I'd say, we are so open to collaborating with communities. Uh, and so I'd say, uh, hey, come come join team Fidium. Um, let let us help you up your game.”
On , Gabe Waggoner, Chief Network Officer at CONSOLIDATED COMM HLDGS INC, spoke about public-private collaboration during Behind the Build: How Fidium Operates at Scale on Fidium.
About Gabe Waggoner
Gabe Waggoner, Executive Vice President of Operations at Fidium and Chief Network Officer at Consolidated Communications, has discussed the company’s fiber-optic expansion in rural America. He stated that Fidium went from a few thousand fiber passings per year to over 300,000 fiber homes enabled in the first year after the COVID-19 pandemic. Waggoner described fiber as a "futureproof technology" and said the company aims to be a partner in helping communities thrive. He noted that the company holds "gig town" events to engage with local residents about the investment. In a 2021 interview, Waggoner outlined cost-saving and operational measures at Consolidated Communications. He said the company deployed automated text notifications for technician appointments, decommissioned retail centers in favor of home shipping and e-commerce, and adopted cloud-based platforms that allowed over 90 percent of employees to work remotely. Waggoner added that the company was evaluating a smaller office footprint and the sale of real estate assets, and had implemented AI-driven voice analytics and robotic process automation to improve customer self-service tools and agent efficiency.