Vianet Communication is one of Nepal's leading internet and TV service providers. Founded in 1999, it pioneered fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) internet in the country in 2011 and launched one of Nepal's first IPTV services in 2016. Headquartered in Lalitpur, the company serves roughly 260,000 fiber customers across 24 cities, holds about 10% national market share as the third-largest ISP, and in 2023 launched Nepal's first 2 Gbps XGS-PON multi-gig internet service.
Verizon Communications is one of the largest telecommunications carriers in the United States, delivering wireless service, fiber and broadband internet, and managed enterprise networking to consumers, businesses, and government. Formed in 2000 from the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE, the company runs one of the country's most extensive 5G and fiber-optic networks and reported roughly $138 billion in revenue in 2025.
Keith Southard runs Allied Telesis, the San Jose-headquartered networking company building switches, routers and software-defined infrastructure used everywhere from US military bases overseas to smart-city deployments. He took over as CEO of Allied Telesis Capital Corporation in 2008 and has stayed at the controls ever since, quietly steering a 1,900-person company through the awkward transition from hardware vendor to network-automation outfit.
Astranis builds small, software-defined geostationary communications satellites - about the size of a washing machine - that deliver dedicated broadband to underserved regions and governments. Founded in 2015 in San Francisco, the company designs, manufactures and operates its MicroGEO platform entirely in-house at Historic Pier 70.
Ready (ready.net) is a San Francisco software company that builds the platform state broadband offices use to run the federal BEAD program - from application intake and challenge processes to milestone tracking, reimbursements, and NTIA-ready reporting. Founded by Jase Wilson and Mike Faloon, the company turns a paperwork avalanche into structured, auditable workflows so $42B in public money actually reaches the unserved homes it was meant for.
Cardi Prinzi is the Chief Executive Officer of Sail Internet, a Bay Area fiber and fixed-wireless ISP serving residential and business customers across Silicon Valley and San Francisco. With more than 30 years of senior leadership in telecommunications - spanning Sprint, MCI Worldcom, Equinix, TelePacific, New Edge Networks, EarthLink, Pacnet, Telstra, and Windstream Enterprise - Prinzi brings deep expertise in strategic vision, product development, and revenue growth to one of the region's most customer-focused internet providers. Since joining Sail Internet in 2024, she has overseen a period of significant expansion including the acquisitions of Paxio Residential, Paxio MDU, and Ether Web Network, plus a high-profile partnership with Twist Broadband.
Nathan Patrick is the Chief Executive Officer of Sonic, a California-based fiber internet provider that has been challenging the telecom duopoly since 1994. A career network engineer turned executive, Patrick rose through the ranks to CTO before taking the helm as CEO in 2024. He won the 2016 FTTXcellence Award for his technical leadership and has spearheaded Sonic's aggressive expansion beyond its Bay Area roots into Oakland, Los Angeles, and Dallas - backed by the belief that fast, honest internet shouldn't be a luxury.
Remko Vos is the CEO of CUJO AI, a cybersecurity and network intelligence platform protecting over 60 million homes globally by monitoring more than 3 billion connected devices. A Dutch-born engineer turned MIT Sloan MBA, Vos spent five years at Comcast before stepping into the CEO chair in April 2022, bringing rare firsthand experience as a CUJO AI customer to a company that blocks over 17,000 threats per minute. Under his leadership, CUJO AI has landed Tier-1 wins including T-Mobile USA and EE, earned recognition as a Cybersecurity Visionary at RSAC 2025, and become a voice at forums from the World Economic Forum to MWC.
Jase Wilson grew up in rural Missouri, earned a Master of City Planning from MIT, and has spent two decades trying to wire America together. After helping land Google Fiber's first network in Kansas City, founding and ultimately losing Neighborly - a civic fintech built on municipal bonds - he pivoted to Ready.net in 2019. Now, as founder and CEO, he runs a Y Combinator-backed vertical SaaS platform that helps state broadband offices manage billions in federal BEAD grants and track sub-grantee performance, with $14.6M in total funding and a team of 62.
Wahaj us Siraj is the co-founder and CEO of Nayatel, Pakistan's leading fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) telecom company. A mechanical engineer by training who pivoted to entrepreneurship out of frustration with government bureaucracy, he sold a Suzuki car to fund his first venture and went on to build Pakistan's first FTTH network - a first for all of South and Southeast Asia. Under his leadership, Nayatel has grown to 170,000+ customers, 2,500+ employees, and operations in 17+ cities, while also launching Pakistan's first HD TV channels and partnering with Facebook to expand fiber across 8 cities.