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In Today’s Issue

The Podcast

Episode 9 - Telecom M&A, Private Equity & the Rural Data Center Boom, with David Pickett, from Pardal Ventures

In this episode of Jason's Industry Insights, I sit down with David Pickett, a seasoned business valuator, to unpack the shifting tides of the telecom M&A landscape, trends in valuations (including NetCo and ServCo), the role of private equity, and why rural data centers are becoming the next frontier.

We discuss:

📉 The rise and fall of telecom valuations from 2020 to 2025
💸 Why private equity is pulling back from greenfield projects
🏗️ Who’s buying what — and why infrastructure ownership is changing hands
🌾 The quiet boom that may be bubbling up in rural data center economics
🔮 We also look ahead to what’s next in telecom deal-making and infrastructure strategy.

📡 Whether you're in M&A, infrastructure, or just watching the evolution of telecom from the sidelines, this is one worth tuning into.

✅ David will speak about the economics of Data Centres at the upcoming CRRBC conference (https://crrbc.ca/). He will also also host an interactive workshop, featuring a walk-through of his financial modelling tool.

▶️ Listen on Spotify (https://lnkd.in/g-X-Gg2G) or listen and follow on your player of choice!

What’s Happening On Earth?

🇨🇦 Expanded high-speed Internet coming to SDG Counties - Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry (SDG) Counties council unanimously approved a municipal access agreement with Redwood Infrastructure to expand high-speed Internet access.

My Take: Redwood? Who are they, you ask?

Redwood Infrastructure LP is a Toronto-based telecom infrastructure company, founded in 2023.

Rogers has both sold tower assets to Redwood, who have also assumed tower lease/license agreements from Rogers. Redwood owns, builds and leases cell towers and fiber infrastructure across Canada.

Although I’m not always looking, this is the first notice of Redwood FTTH infrastructure build (or assumption of infrastructure) that I’ve come across. Telus has a similar arrangement with F3 Networks. Rogers is working with Redwood. Who is Bell working with?

Is this the start of NetCo/ServCo separation, or just a way to offload infrastructure, lease it back and free us cash for other things - with the added benefit of infrastructure that - perhaps - isn’t subject to CRTC regulation?

🇨🇦 Bell pulls out of deal to bring high-speed Internet to northern Labrador - "Due to unsustainable cost increases … and significant logistical hurdles presented by the challenging geography, Bell has made the difficult decision to withdraw from the planned fixed wireless network project," 

My Take: 340% increase in costs since the initial funding award. Is this an opportunity for HAPS-based solutions, or is this one of the “unconnectable” areas where LEO-based satellite and Direct-To-Cell services are primary services? Or, do we just need to allocate more money and resources to ensure everyone gets connected?

🇨🇦 BCE and PSP Investments Announce Strategic Partnership to Create Network FiberCo - As a premier wholesale network provider, Network FiberCo will be focused on last-mile fibre deployment outside of Ziply Fiber's incumbent service areas, enabling Ziply Fiber to potentially reach up to 8 million total fibre passings.

My Take: Shared risk. That’s what PE wants. Not pure greenfield. All that Canadian money going into the US. Oh, and a 50% drop in the dividend.

🇨🇦 Forget Starlink. Indigenous Innovation Is Canada’s Best Bet for Rural Internet.- Lyle’s work represents the kind of hybrid solution that northern, Indigenous, rural and remote communities often devise to access high-speed connectivity in Canada. But while some households and organizations connect to homegrown solutions like Lyle’s, many others have adopted Starlink, the satellite internet system operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Starlink is now Canada’s sixth-largest internet provider, with around 400,000 subscribers and about $420 million in yearly Canadian revenue. It’s primarily used in the north, as well as rural and remote areas—places that don’t yet offer fast, reliable and reasonably priced non-satellite services. 

My Take: Yes, it’s true. All it takes is money, resources and time and it’s more than just access. Economical transport make a big difference.

Lessons from RDOF for BEAD - As the NTIA deliberates on a BEAD course correction, it would be wise to review the experience of a recent major federal broadband program, the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which embodies some of the features that BEAD has been criticized for lacking.

My Take: This is a really informative article that explains both programs and the issues very well.

DOGE cuts into telecom industry's business - The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has cut into federal agencies like USAID. Now some US telecom companies are reporting the revenues they've lost due to those cuts.

My Take: No comment..

Lumen promises to bypass Equinix - Lumen said its new 'fabric' port offering, built atop its digital platform business, will allow enterprise customers to cut through data center interconnect providers like Equinix.

My Take: Oh, yea. That’s right. They have their own private connectivity fabric.

Data Center Map - Launched in 2007, Data Center Map was the first of its kind and has become an industry "go-to" resource for researching data centers. DCM is used by buyers and sellers of data center services, investors, analysts, real estate professionals, construction companies, public authorities and other decision makers in the industry, as both a research- and procurement tool.

My Take: “We currently have 264 data centers listed, from 32 markets in Canada (Canada). Click on a market below, to explore its data center locations.:

🇨🇦 Blazing fast Internet on an RJ? Air Canada stuns in free Wi-Fi rollout - A new day is dawning for the passenger experience aboard regional aircraft serving North America. Air Canada now offers free, Bell-sponsored inflight Wi-Fi to Aeroplan loyalty members on 88% of its entire fleet, notably including all its 76-seat CRJ900s.

My Take: Whatever. Now table stakes on most other airlines.

Shift Happens: Monetizing Fixed Broadband in the Age of AI - ISPs are trapped in a race to the bottom as broadband markets become saturated with intense competition among providers. This competitive environment pressures operators to offer more for less, further squeezing profit margins.

My Take: “SPs are trapped in a race to the bottom as broadband markets become saturated with intense competition among providers. This competitive environment pressures operators to offer more for less, further squeezing profit margins.”

AI impacts OPEX, although some are suggesting there’s an AI play to manage the network inside the home.

Advancing PON Interoperability: Successes and Learnings from the Latest Cable Labs Event - During the 2nd Cable Labs CPMP interop event, Calix was joined by two other OLT vendors as well as six ONT vendors and one ONT SoC vendor. Whereas the focus for the February event was on DOCSIS provisioning of ITU-T XGS PON systems, this week’s emphasis was on OLT-to-ONT compliance with the Cable OpenOMCI specification.

My Take: Part 2. Another interesting read from Eric on this interoperability lab. Really no reason why PON should be any different that DOCSIS for best of breed interoperability.

Comparing American and British Broadband Prices - I’ve regularly heard that U.S. broadband prices are a lot higher than European prices. I found a way to check this when I ran across this article from ISPreview that has a long list of gigabit broadband prices across the UK.

My Take: Does normalizing the currency count? Makes Canada’s pricing look better.

🇨🇦 Bell Canada introduces Ateko: New tech services brand simplifying enterprise operations with leading automation and tech collaboration - Bell Canada, Canada's largest communications company¹, today proudly unveiled Ateko, a dynamic new brand poised to revolutionize business operations with AI-driven automation and technology collaboration. The company serves clients across diverse sectors, including telecommunications, media, technology, public sector, utilities and finance.

My Take: Maybe that’s where the other half of the dividend went.

🇨🇦 Carney pledges to reduce government reliance on U.S. tech giants - The Liberal Leader responded Monday to a Globe and Mail report that said federal officials are working on a plan to direct more cloud-computing contracts toward Canadian companies after receiving strong industry pushback over an existing competition to shortlist a small number of American multinationals for similar work.

My Take: Canadian companies partnered with US Companies?

Why Cable ISPs Are Bleeding Customers: It’s Not Just FWA — It’s Complacency - At the end of the day, customers aren’t just leaving because of FWA. They’re leaving because they’re tired of feeling stuck, nickel-and-dimed, and forced to jump through hoops for basic service.

My Take: Not much else to say about that! I think there’s a price advantage with FWA. Not a price/bit, price for service.

T-Mobile: Uplink is the next big thing - T-Mobile just upped the ante on 5G upload speeds, announcing that it set a new uplink speed record of 550 Mbps using 5G Advanced technology. Why is it significant? According to T-Mobile President of Technology Ulf Ewaldsson, “uplink is the next big thing.” Others tend to agree, as the industry is increasingly putting more focus on uplink after years of concentrating on the downlink.

My Take: Uplink. Latency. Don’t look over there. Look over here.

🇨🇦 Only 18% of surveyed Canadians aware of consumer protection codes - Only 18 per cent of Canadians are aware of the CRTC’s consumer protection codes, which are intended to make contracts easier to understand for internet, wireless and TV services, according to a survey commissioned by the regulator and released recently.

My Take: So, I though charging $70 activation fees were off the table, but they’re doing that, so who’s policing all this stuff?

US households are seeking smarter, more immediate ways to manage their energy consumption and costs - Parks Associates' consumer study Smarter Energy at Home: Intelligence, Coordination, Services reveals that rising electrification from home appliances and electric vehicle (EV) adoption is putting new demands on the US energy grid. Simultaneously, US households are seeking smarter, more immediate ways to manage their energy consumption and costs.

My Take: You mean like letting the utility control when you can and can’t use your air conditioning, or just some sort of meter that shows them on-demand cost/consumption data.

Alaska and West Virginia Left Behind in Race for Global Competitiveness - The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) today released a new paper, The Progress of U.S. FTTH Availability by State, detailing the progress of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) deployments by state, across the United States. The study, performed by RVA LLC, compares data from the last 11 years and reveals substantial expansion in fiber broadband availability, with notable growth in the central, southeastern, and New England states. However, it also shows that some states remain underserved and lack access to reliable connectivity. As fiber deployment is a key measure of global competitiveness and economic development, this study identifies the states investing in the future for their communities.

My Take: Visit the link to download the report.

What’s Happening In Space?

What’s in Space This Week?

Amazon unveils first Kuiper satellite images In Orbit - Earlier this week, Amazon published the first detailed images of its flat-panel Kuiper satellite cluster in low Earth orbit. In its efforts to commercialize space, Jeff Bezos-led $2 trillion company is now offering a rare look at the hardware behind Project Kuiper. These images come just weeks after the April 28 launch of 27 production units aboard a ULA Atlas V rocket.

My Take: The logo. Nice touch. Where’s the Prime logo?

Amazon exec shares views of Project Kuiper satellites getting off to an ‘entirely nominal’ start - “It’s early in the mission and we still have lots of work ahead,” Rajeev Badyal, Amazon’s vice president of technology and head of Project Kuiper, said today in a LinkedIn post. “It’s been an entirely nominal start though, and that’s all thanks to the talent, passion and dedication of the Kuiper team. They’ve delivered in a big way here – for Amazon and for our customers – and I’m so proud.”

My Take: At least they’re not spinning our of control, only to plummet to earth and crash in some unpredictable location.

🇨🇦 Telesat Lightspeed: Advanced Canadian Solution to Assure Canadian Sovereignty - A video!

My Take: Click the video.. to watch the video.. Do it. I’ll wait.

They wanted to see Earth, but they captured Starlink instead: the image that shouldn’t have been seen - A user recently discovered that a Starlink satellite from SpaceX crossed paths with an Earth-imaging satellite while flying over Texas. The image was captured on Google Earth. What does this seemingly small event actually reveal?

My Take: Satellite image pollution. That’s the message here.

Starlink Shines in Spain & Portugal During Historic Blackout Crisis - In a striking demonstration of its utility, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service experienced an unprecedented surge in demand across Spain and Portugal during a historic blackout that left millions without power. As traditional mobile and internet services faltered, users turned to Starlink, highlighting the vulnerabilities of conventional telecommunications infrastructure in times of crisis.

MyTake:

🇨🇦 Will Canada choose to be a leader in space, or stand by as a participant? - That is the defining question NordSpace’s CEO, Rahul Goel, asked at our inaugural Canadian Space Launch Conference hosted at the beautiful Canadian Aviation and Space Museum packed with over 300 people.

My Take: All the sessions are now available to view for free. I wanted to attend. Too many conflicts 🥲

FAA OKs More Starship Launches at Starbase - The new approval will allow SpaceX to launch 25 times each year. In addition, it can conduct 50 annual landings—25 of Starship, and 25 of Super Heavy. Up to three of the launches can take place at night—and any landings after dark can only happen offshore, on an autonomous ship platform. 

My Take: “The company wants to more than double its Falcon 9 launch cadence at Cape Canaveral, growing from 50 annual launches to 120” - That’s a lot of payload.

White House budget proposal would phase out SLS and Orion, scale back ISS operations - The White House is proposing major changes to NASA in its fiscal year 2026 budget request, seeking to phase out the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft as well as reduce operations of the International Space Station as part of one of the largest proposed cuts in agency history.

My Take: The money for the Moon and Mars has to come from somewhere.

India’s satellite crackdown brings fresh challenges for Starlink and OneWeb - The country’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) announced 29 additional regulations May 5, citing national security interests, which also apply to companies that already hold licenses for providing space-based communication services directly to users.

My Take: See all 29 additional regulations.

DoT adds security requirements for satellite broadband players - According to the Economic Times, the DoT created the updated security conditions in response to the national security environment – particularly India’s ongoing tensions with China and Pakistan – as well as the evolution of new technologies.

My Take: Heavy focus on keeping data in the country and controlling what subscribers can and cannot browse (government control, and all)

Japan's Resilience moon lander arrives in lunar orbit ahead of June 5 touchdown - The Resilience spacecraft, which was built by the Tokyo-based company ispace, arrived at the moon on schedule Tuesday (May 6), keeping it on target for a historic touchdown try a month from now.

My Take: Did anyone know that Japan had a lander on the way to the moon?

Star Catcher and Satlyt Partner to Unlock Scalable Edge Computing with On-Demand Orbital Energy - Star Catcher Industries, Inc. (Star Catcher) and Satlyt Inc. (Satlyt) have announced a strategic partnership to deliver integrated edge computing and orbital energy solutions, enabling satellite operators to scale next-generation missions with greater speed, resilience, and flexibility.

My Take: Well, at least they won’t run out of power.

Rivada Space Networks Announces Partnership with Pulsar Solutions -  Rivada Space Networks, a global network company launching a secure, low latency low earth orbit satellite network, has announced a new partnership with Pulsar International (Pulsar), to enable secure connectivity for customers in commercial maritime, Agri-tech, enterprise and government markets. Rivada has now lined up over $US16 billion of business globally for its unique LEO network.

My Take: Integrators, SP, resellers — all very important parts of the commercial solution

🇨🇦 Telesat LEO Backlog Nears $1.1B Canadian After Viasat Deal - backlog for its Lightspeed Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation is now nearly $1.1 billion Canadian dollars ($800 million) after signing a capacity deal with Viasat in April. 

My Take: Backlog or signed deals?

Failed Soviet spacecraft Kosmos 482 could crash to Earth this week — here's where it might hit - Where will the failed Soviet spacecraft Kosmos 482 land when it crashes back to Earth in the coming week? Most major cities are in the potential crash zone — but the odds of a direct strike are extremely slim.

My Take: I’m sure it will be just fine. Maybe blow it up with one of the nukes in space.

U.S. pushes nations facing tariffs to approve Musk’s Starlink, cables show - Some countries have turned to the satellite internet firm in conjunction with trade talks, State Department staffers wrote. The U.S. has a strategic interest in countering Chinese internet providers, but Musk’s role complicates the picture.

My Take: So Starlink is a bargaining chip now.

SpaceX expands Starlink constellation amid surging global demand - SpaceX’s Starlink constellation expanded with a Falcon 9 launch on May 6, strengthening its role in global connectivity as demand surges and competition intensifies. The recent Falcon 9 launch is called SpaceX’s Starlink 6-93 mission.

My Take: I think I saw something about 3 launches in two days from two launch sites. Used to be that rocket launches were an event. Now it’s just a day with the letter “y” in it.

Musk’s Starlink Could Connect Over 10,000 Planes By 2034 - Elon Musk’s Starlink has been expanding its reach in the airline connectivity market. According to a new report by London-based Valour Consultancy, which closely tracks competition in in-flight entertainment and connectivity services, Starlink could connect over 10,000 aircraft by the end of 2034.

My Take: The world of Elon. Have to hand it to SpaceX. They saw the full opportunity and are running straight after it.

Enabling the Future of Maritime Communications - Amid recent challenges, the maritime industry is now pivoting its use of technology to meet specific segment needs. Harbor Research assessed the challenges and opportunities for digital transformation, and how fleets can adopt innovative growth strategies to leverage connectivity for better use of data, tools, and applications.

My Take: Visit the link to get the ebook!

Direct To Device

Spectrum Choices Dictate the Launch and Evolution of D2D Services - Indications are that the mobile ecosystem is readying itself for widespread use of direct-to-device (D2D) communication. At the 2025 Mobile World Congress (MWC 2025), discussions revolved around the ramifications of satellite systems’ growing capability to communicate directly with mobile handsets. Recent 3GPP deliberations on 6G radio access networks (RANs) point strongly towards D2D integration with terrestrial systems for wide-area coverage from the very beginning of 6G roll-out. Spectrum is essential to the D2D proposition.

My Take: Spectrum is at the heart of everything.. along wth regional regulatory oversight and policy.

Enabling AI

Introducing OpenAI for Countries - Today, we’re introducing OpenAI for Countries, a new initiative within the Stargate project. This is a moment when we need to act to support countries around the world that would prefer to build on democratic AI rails, and provide a clear alternative to authoritarian versions of AI that would deploy it to consolidate power.

My Take: Build in-country capacity, provide customized ChatGPT for citizens, evolve security and safety controls, etc..

Boardy.AI - I’ll connect you to the best people in my network. 
Message me on WhatsApp and let's get on a call.

My Take: No, I haven’t tried it yet. I’m coming for you, Elon.

AI helps John Deere transform agriculture - Let’s dispel the myth: farmers are tech-savvy. They’re practical, and they adopt technology when it proves its worth. Farming is also high stakes—one bad year could mean losing everything. They don’t have endless chances to get it right, but with AI, we can turn their 40 harvests into 40,000 opportunities to learn and optimize.

My Take: Have you seen a piece of farming machinery lately? LIke a space ship with big wheels and all sorts of funny attachments. Precision agriculture yields very impressive results.

Another job, automated.- This robot lays tiles faster, straighter, and more precisely than any human crew. 50,000 square meters. No breaks. No delays. No drama.

My Take: I guess its fine for standard patterns and tiles that don’t require special cuts. What about the grout? Looks like a cool machine. A more consistent installation, I would think.

Connect your AI to any app with Zapier MCP - The fastest way to let your AI assistant interact with thousands of apps. No complex API integrations required.

My Take: I’m so behind on playing with MCP. These tools make it so easy, and there’s no shortage of application, like working to automate more of this newsletter.. not that I’m complaining or anything.

This and That!

Hollow core fiber: What is it and why does it matter? - Hollow core fiber’s name offers a clue as to how it differs from regular fiber. Rather than featuring a glass core, it has a hollow space in the middle through which light is transmitted.

My Take: So it’s air fiber. Like in space. So it’s space fiber. If there’s no glass, I wonder if it costs less.

The third person in the world to receive a Neuralink brain implant just made this video... using only his mind. - He controls the cursor using his brain signals, specifically by imagining tongue movements and performs "click" actions by clenching his jaw.

My Take: Watch the video. It’s pretty cool.

REAL ID Deadline Is Today–Here’s What You’ll Need To Fly - After REAL ID enforcement starts, the biggest difference will be that a standard state-issued driver’s license will no longer get a traveler through airport security checkpoints. Beginning May 7, a driver’s license must be a more secure version known as a REAL ID.

My Take: No idea that this was a thing in the US. I use a passport. I know a lot of people don’t have them.

Argentina hopes to attract Big Tech with nuclear-powered AI data centers - President Javier Milei’s plan includes a new type of nuclear reactor and even a so-called Nuclear City in Patagonia, but critics question its feasibility.

My Take: So I guess they’ll be fission for customers.. hahaha

Amazon makes ‘fundamental leap forward in robotics’ with device having sense of touch- Amazon said it has made a “fundamental leap forward in robotics” after developing a robot with a sense of touch that will be capable of grabbing about three-quarters of the items in its vast warehouses.

My Take: More robots. Less people. Except the ones who throw the packages at my front door. They’re still working.

The Future of Manufacturing Might Be in Space - Scientists have long suggested that the microgravity environment of Earth’s orbit could enable the production of higher-quality products than it is possible to make on Earth. Astronauts experimented with crystals—a crucial component of electronic circuitry—as early as 1973, on NASA’s Skylab space station. But progress was slow. For decades, in-space manufacturing has been experimental rather than commercial.

My Take: The future of everything seems to be in space. Did anyone notice that SpaceX is having three launches this week? Two on Friday. One on Saturday.

π0.5: a Vision-Language-Action Model with Open-World Generalization - In order for robots to be useful, they must perform practically relevant tasks in the real world, outside of the lab. While vision-language-action (VLA) models have demonstrated impressive results for end-to-end robot control, it remains an open question how far such models can generalize in the wild.

My Take: Watch the video!

Infographic Of The Week

My Take: I thought obesity drugs would be higher on the list.. as people shop online, drive electric/autonomous cars and have their robots doing chores for them.

Podcast Recommendation

Our interview with Bhavya Lal, a prominent voice in space policy, delves deeply into the conversation around nuclear power in space. It begins with a historical overview, citing projects like Orion and NERVA from the 1950s and 60s that envisioned nuclear propulsion for interplanetary missions. Lal underscores how nuclear space exploration has long been discussed but has struggled to gain sustained investment and progress, often stalling due to overambitious goals, lack of demand, cultural fears, and infrastructure gaps.

A key part of the discussion centers on the immense energy density of nuclear power compared to conventional methods, which makes it especially valuable for long-duration space missions, such as to Mars or beyond. Lal emphasizes that solar power becomes increasingly inefficient the farther we venture from the Sun, making nuclear energy essential for propulsion, habitats, and industrial activities in deep space. She also highlights how countries like Russia have already launched several nuclear reactors for space use, motivated by strategic military needs.

From a geopolitical perspective, Lal stresses the need for the U.S. to treat nuclear space power as a strategic priority, noting how rivals like China are integrating fission reactors into their lunar base plans. She calls for a “crawl, walk, run” approach to developing robust space nuclear infrastructure, beginning with small-scale tests in Earth orbit and scaling up.

Listen Here!

Movie/Streaming Recommendation

IMDb: 5.8/10

JMDb: 5/10 (very predictable..)

“Exterritorial” is a German action-thriller that delivers a tense, fast-paced ride, anchored by Jeanne Goursaud’s gripping performance as Sara, a former Special Forces operative whose son vanishes inside the U.S. consulate in Frankfurt.

The film’s greatest strength lies in its relentless hand-to-hand combat and tightly choreographed action sequences, which keep the adrenaline high even when the plot stretches believability. The story leans heavily on familiar conspiracy and gaslighting tropes, sometimes sacrificing realism for spectacle-think “Taken” meets “Flightplan,” but with a European edge.

While the psychological tension and Sara’s PTSD add depth, the narrative can feel muddled, with some predictable twists and a few plot holes that may frustrate detail-oriented viewers. Still, “Exterritorial” is solid popcorn entertainment: not especially memorable, but a satisfying late-night watch for action fans who appreciate gritty fight scenes and a determined, complex heroine.

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