Metro Connect: The highlights

This year, Metro Connect kick-started on the 31st January. The three-day in-person conference was held at a South Beach Hotel in Miami and brought together big names in digital infrastructure, tech and private equity and featured a number of high-profile keynote speakers, presentations and discussion forums on everything from Edge and the financial ecosystem to sustainability. The conference facilitated bilateral meetings between infrastructure companies (telecom, wireless, towers, fiber and data centers) and saw the finance industry show up in force, enabling companies to connect with financiers to discuss capital. Baxtel's founder Eric Bell attended.

Day one of the conference started out with an examination of digital infrastructure and whether the industry is meeting demand. The talk, which included input from speakers Eric Watko (American Tower), Robert Sokota (ZenFi Networks), Justin Melnikoff (MOX Networks), Gil Santile (NJFX), and Maria Browne (Davis Wright Tremaine), explored how the industry is collaborating with governments and vendors to get existing infrastructure on the right track and network builds fast-tracked. 

Later, in one of the conference's discussion forums, speakers and attendees discussed the emergence of inbuilding, touching on topics such as infrastructure convergence, the build-out of 5G, IoT and FTTH, and the role of quantum networks and security. Closing day one, David Wuensch, VP Sales and Marketing at Axcent Networks, led a discussion forum on the evolution of the Edge.

The second day of the conference featured keynote speakers Mike Finley, CEO of Boingo and Marc Ganzi, President and CEO of DigitalBridge, and later Colby Synesael, Managing Director of Cowen and Company, gave his outlook on the market and highlighted key trends to look out for. This was followed by a CEO Panel discussion with the likes of Andrés Irlando, President at Zayo Group, Brett Lindsey, CEO at Everstream and Kenny Gunderman, President and CEO of Uniti Group Inc, coming together to reflect on the last year and looking ahead to meeting demand in 2023 and forecasts for the direction the industry will take. 

Getting to grips with all things finance was the central focus of the next session. Some of the most prominent infrastructure funds and financiers backing mergers and acquisitions gave their insight into market trends and explored how societal drivers affect capital and interest. Features speakers included Chris Moon, Managing Director DigitalBridge Group, Jennifer Fritzsche Managing Director, Communications Services & Infrastructure Greenhill & Co., and Jan Vesely, Partner, EQT Partners. Similar themes were discussed in a later session on the financial ecosystem, whereby leading experts and advisors including Stephen Nettler, Managing Director at ING, Rich Cosgray, Managing Director – Head of TMT Internet Infrastructure Leveraged Finance at Truist Securities and Cecile Baker, Managing Director at TD Securities, looked at how market projections have changed since the pandemic. Also discussed in this segment were the new players and sources of capital entering the picture and the impact of that on how assets are valued and viewed.

The final day of the conference welcomed keynote speakers Warren Roll, Managing Director of DigitalBridge, Steve Smith, CEO of Zayo, and Natalie Bannerman, Deputy Editor at Capacity Media, which was followed by an expert panelist discussion on convergence and debate around the case for remaining siloed. Sustainability was also a central focus of day three, and the panel made up of Alexandra Rasch, Founder and CEO at Caban Systems, Jeff Ginsberg, CAO at DigitalBridge Group, Daniel Shurey, Director at ING, and Jason Carolan, CIO at Flexential, discussed the importance of genuine ESG targets interweaved into sustainable business strategies. Also discussed was the different ways companies in the industry are innovating and ensuring that a greener future lies ahead. 

Conference discussions closed with a reflection on Edge. The panelists, which included Andres Vasquez, Telco Segment Director, Cloud & Service Providers at Schneider Electric, John Cowan CEO at EDJX, and Jerry Blair, Senior Vice President of Sales at DataBank, explored the trends and models that are emerging and, looking forward, discussed what lies ahead. 

Reflecting on the event, Eric Bell said: "As one of the first events Baxtel has attended since Covid began, it was good to see old friends and make new contacts. Nothing beats face-to-face connection."