2025 was another costly year of natural disasters in the U.S. — from the LA wildfires to the Texas floods. The first half of the year alone was the most costly on record, totaling over $101 billion. Beyond damage in dollars, communities were upended and livelihoods disrupted, exposing the need for stronger disaster preparedness and resiliency. While first responders rush to the scene and utility crews restore water and power, another critical, often overlooked group supports both the impacted residents and the crews themselves.
After the Storm (see below), a short film documentary produced by The Internet & Television Association (NCTA), highlights the broadband technicians and network recovery teams in these increasingly volatile weather patterns.
“The work of restoring broadband after a disaster is demanding, but it’s also profoundly meaningful,” the film’s producer, Brian Dietz told Broadband Nation.
He described the doc as an illustration of broadband infrastructure’s critical support “woven into every aspect of modern life,” especially during emergencies. “Connectivity enables hospitals to coordinate care; families to reconnect; communities to rebuild," he said.
Yet despite the infrastructure and industry’s value — both economically and socially — power and water remain the key funding focuses in emergency response readiness, according to Dietz. Broadband sits “just outside [these] formal frameworks.”
Connectivity has been more commonly regarded as critical after COVID-19 — connecting people beyond entertainment to healthcare and the economy. But during these disasters (now happening more frequently), Dietz believes a few things must change for it to be properly ingrained in these frameworks.
“Institutionally, broadband must be embedded into emergency response planning at every level, from FEMA coordination to state emergency management offices,” he argued. “Technically, the integration between utilities, local governments and broadband providers must deepen through shared data, joint response protocols and interoperable communications systems.”
Rather than just a supporting network for communication, Dietz believes broadband and network connection should be recognized "as pillars of community resilience." And future policy should treat it as such. “That means integrating broadband providers into emergency preparedness and recovery programs and ensuring federal relief funds support hardening broadband networks and workforce readiness," he continued.
Despite a focus on expanding physical networks, Dietz noted the BEAD program is a step in the right direction — as it has shed a spotlight on the need for further private-sector, long-term investment in this infrastructure.
“Our members are designing networks to withstand extreme weather, adopting AI-powered outage detection and building redundancy into critical systems,” he detailed. “Policies that value resilience in addition to access will ensure broadband remains reliable when communities need it most.”
And when communities do need it most in these disasters, power and broadband become uniquely interdependent, Dietz added. “Networks can’t fully come online until power is restored, yet broadband is critical for coordinating those very restoration efforts,” which is why cross-sector collaboration from the jump is so important.
Recovery depends on people
“The most efficient recoveries we’ve seen, including the ones featured in After the Storm, occur when local officials, utilities and broadband providers consistently communicate and work hand-in-hand. That proximity accelerates decisions, ensures mutual safety and gets communities reconnected faster,” Dietz said — adding the effort to push “federal and state agencies to include broadband in disaster response frameworks, much like power and water.”
But whether it’s power, water or connectivity, the recovery relies on crews of people. While broadband’s workforce shortage has been widely stated within the industry, utility sectors are experiencing struggles as well.
A shortage of trained crews is more than a labor issue. In critical infrastructure sectors — as disruptions grow more frequent and severe — it directly impacts how resilient communities can be in the aftermath. Even with policy efforts to strengthen and better coordinate disaster response, a lot of the pressure still rests on recruiting and training workers.
Operators and groups like SCTE are increasingly focused on connecting new workers to apprenticeships and clear, sustainable career pathways — including high school graduates, second-chance participants and mid-career entrants look for something new.
“The future of broadband depends on the strength of its workforce,” concluded Dietz. “As the digital infrastructure of our country expands, so too must the investment in people – in training, upskilling, and lifelong learning.”
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