TechExpo26: Building and Protecting Broadband’s Future
Broadband networks are essential infrastructure, supporting daily communications, emergency response and public services. That makes theft, vandalism and deliberate attacks on broadband facilities an industrywide concern. In response, SCTE and NCTA launched STRIKE, the Strategic Threat Response & Infrastructure Knowledge Exchange, as an executive-level coalition focused on strengthening how the industry protects networks and responds to intentional damage.
A year ago, STRIKE began with industry leaders agreeing that intentional damage to broadband infrastructure is a national security and public safety problem. Today, it is advancing through a standards development process with strong operator engagement. Its first initiative will establish a consistent way to document and preserve evidence from vandalism and theft so law enforcement can build stronger cases.
STRIKE held its inaugural strategic meeting at SCTE TechExpo25 in Washington, D.C., where senior leaders began setting a shared direction. TechExpo26 gives us the opportunity to demonstrate how that commitment has advanced into active standards development and continue the collaboration needed to protect, investigate and recover from intentional infrastructure damage.
This work reflects a broader challenge: as networks support more services and become more interconnected, the industry must advance innovation while strengthening the infrastructure behind it. TechExpo26 will bring those priorities together.
A TechExpo that reflects a changing industry
From September 29 to October 1, we will gather at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta for TechExpo26. Every year, SCTE TechExpo gives our industry a place to look ahead, compare ideas and work through the challenges shaping broadband. This year, that mission is more urgent as we unite content and connectivity while defending the network reliability that makes these services possible.
This year’s theme, “Network (R)evolution: Convergence Powered. Experience Perfected.,” reflects how quickly broadband, mobile, media and technology are coming together.
With AMC Global Media joining Spectrum, the event will have a programmer co-host for the first time. Major telecommunications providers, including AT&T and T-Mobile, will also participate, bringing content, mobile and broadband leaders together to examine how streaming, AI and edge computing are reshaping network design, service delivery and the customer experience.
Across more than 48 hours of sessions, attendees will explore AI infrastructure, fiber evolution, modern streaming architecture and analytics, autonomous networks, multi-access convergence, operations and construction, and new growth opportunities. The program will connect forward-looking ideas with practical action, centered on advancing innovation and protecting the infrastructure those advances depend on.
We are also expanding the ways people can participate. Slide-free Meetups will create space for candid peer discussions. Focus Forums will offer deeper exploration of specific issues, while hands-on Bootcamps will provide practical learning in areas such as DOCSIS® 4.0 technology and fiber splicing. The Connectivity Café will give attendees a place to continue conversations between sessions.
Join the conversation in Atlanta
At TechExpo26, I will open the event during the Headliners session on Tuesday, September 29, from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. on the Main Stage. The session will also bring together leaders from across the connectivity and media industries to share perspectives on powering convergence and perfecting the experience. On Wednesday, September 30, I will return to the Main Stage from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. to moderate a Headliners panel tackling STRIKE and the industry’s efforts to strengthen broadband infrastructure protection and response.
TechExpo26 will unite the industry around the forces reshaping connectivity and media: how content is created and delivered and how networks are built, operated and protected.
By convening programmers, telecommunications providers, engineers, field teams, technology partners, policymakers and security professionals under one roof we can elevate both the services we deliver and the customer experiences they enable, while strengthening the infrastructure behind them. I look forward to seeing you in Atlanta.
Maria Popo
President and CEO, SCTE® a subsidiary of CableLabs®
Maria Popo is president and CEO of SCTE®, where the industry comes together to turn innovation into field execution through standards, workforce development, nearly 60 chapters, and TechExpo, the largest broadband event in the Americas. She has sharpened SCTE’s strategy, reshaped its operating model, and is advancing AI across its work. Her career includes leadership at Foxconn, Ubee Interactive, 3Com, and 3M. Her journey from trade school to the boardroom includes a master’s degree from Stanford University, where her cohort was among the first to use generative AI in research and project development. Maria has been recognized for her leadership in technology, workforce development, and business transformation.
